Police in Russia charged a 13-year-old schoolboy for “LGBT propaganda” and displaying “extremist” symbols in May, after he shared an unidentified video with his classmates, and their parents complained, Mediazona reports.

His identity was withheld to protect his privacy.

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Any number of symbols associated with LGBTQ+ identity are now classified as “extremist” in Russia, including rainbows. The designation came into effect with the Russian Supreme Court’s determination in 2023 that the so-called “international LGBT movement” is an “extremist” organization and now banned in the country.

“He wasn’t trying to spread propaganda. He doesn’t even know what that is,” a lawyer representing the schoolboy told Mediazona. She described his actions as “a joke for the sake of a joke.”

“Something clicked, his hormones kicked in — he wanted to make a joke, to say something. Adults thought it was complete nonsense, that he was promoting something,” the lawyer explained.

Despite that, the Russian legal system has “sped off” with its investigation, she said.

“The internet is something that’s accessible to everyone. Even children can go online, come across [these kinds of videos], and show them to someone else. And the authorities consider this a form of propaganda,” she said.

The boy’s charging falls under both Russia’s “gay propaganda” laws, first instituted in 2013 and expanded in 2022, as well as the overlapping “international LGBT movement” designation.

But violations of those laws are administrative offenses, which apply only to Russians 16 and older, so police transferred the case to a regional Juvenile Affairs Commission.

After reviewing evidence of the boy’s “crimes,” they issued a warning to the student for spreading “LGBT propaganda” and determined that he was “remediable.” The commission recommended the boy be remanded to a special education institute for “reform.”

“Prevention authorities believe that he should be rehabilitated exclusively in these centers,” the lawyer says. “Special, closed-type institutions. They live, study, and are treated by psychologists.”

The boy, described by his lawyer as an excellent student and the winner of Olympiad and creative competitions in school, has already been designated a juvenile offender. Pending approval of the Juvenile Affairs Commission, he’ll continue his education in a reform school.

The lawyer has filed a complaint in court disputing the commission’s decision. The schoolboy’s mother confirmed that her son was under investigation but declined to elaborate, calling the case “classified information.”

Russian authorities have ramped up prosecution of “gay propaganda” and “extremist movement” cases in recent months.

Earlier in May, a Russian woman was sentenced to 18 months of forced labor for writing gay K-pop fan fiction. The week before, a foreign national was deported for writing a rave review of a mini-skirt that he modeled online. Both were found guilty of violating “gay propaganda” bans.

In April, a Russian court declared the nation’s largest LGBTQ+ organization, the Russian LGBT Network, an “extremist” group under the umbrella of the “international LGBT movement,” paving the way for the group’s members to be criminally prosecuted as a threat to the country’s sovereignty.