The Zamoskvoretsky Court of Moscow has sentenced Dmitry Protopopov, the former director of publishing house Popcorn Books, to four years of conditional imprisonment, news outlet Baza reported.
Protopopov, who was added to Rosfinmonitoring's list of terrorists and extremists, was convicted of organizing the sales of books featuring LGBT themes following the implementation of distribution restrictions. The international LGBT public movement is recognized as extremist and prohibited in the Russian Federation.
The former publisher admitted guilt during the investigation. According to the prosecution, Protopopov coordinated staff efforts to store and promote unlawful titles, classifying books into red and yellow lists, with works focused on non-traditional relationships designated to the red list.
Co-Defendants Sentenced
Prosecutors had previously requested a prison sentence for Protopopov. Two other defendants in the case, former Popcorn Books sales director Pavel Ivanov and former warehouse worker Artem Vakhlyaev, were also sentenced to four years of conditional imprisonment.
