ORENBURG, June 29. /TASS/. The Orenburg Central District Court has handed down the country’s first verdict in a case of organizing and participating in the activities of the extremist-designated LGBT public movement (recognized as extremist and banned in Russia), the court’s press service reported on the Max messenger.

This was the first time that LGBT supporters were held criminally liable for violating Russia’s law against spreading pride propaganda.

"The first sentence in Russia has been passed in Orenburg for organizing and participating in the activities of the international LGBT public movement, designated an extremist organization, and its structural divisions," the message reads.

Among the defendants were three young people working for the Pose bar - the owner, the administrator and the art-director. Being aware that the international LGBT public movement and its structural divisions are recognized as an extremist organization and its activities are banned in Russia, they held events under the guise of a night club where they promoted LGBT extremism. According to the case materials, numerous people in the club were of non-traditional sexual orientation.

"The court, having examined the evidence presented, has found all defendants guilty of committing the criminal acts, sentencing them to principal penalties in the form of imprisonment for terms ranging from two years three months to seven years in a general regime penal colony, and additional penalties in the form of restriction of liberty for terms ranging from eight months to one year six months. It also prohibited the bar from engaging in activities related to the implementation of organizational, managerial, administrative, and operational functions in the fields of entertainment, public catering, and public leisure for a period of two to three years," the message reads.

Moreover, the court ordered the bar’s owner to pay over one million rubles in criminal proceeds obtained from the extremist organization’s activities. The press service noted that this is the first criminal case opened in Russia for the suppression of this extremist organization’s activities.