A court of appeals in Russia's Far Eastern city of Vladivostok has canceled the acquittal of LGBTQ activist and artist Yulia Tsvetkova in a high-profile pornography case involving nude drawings and other artwork.
The Court of Appeals No. 9 ruled on March 28 that the case must be sent for retrial in the city of Komsomolsk-on-Amur.
SEE ALSO: Is Russia In The 'Stone Age'? Asks Activist After Cartoons Called PornographicThe 29-year-old Tsvetkova, who was acquitted in November, is currently out of Russia.
She initially was found not guilty in mid-July 2022 before prosecutors, under pressure from anti-LGBTQ activists, appealed the ruling. But the appeal was rejected by a court in Komsomolsk-on-Amur on November 22.
Tsvetkova draws women's bodies and is widely known for her advocacy of LGBTQ issues.
She administers a social media page called The Vagina Monologues. The pages contained drawings and other images that resembled female genitalia, which had attracted the attention of authorities.
She was charged with producing and distributing pornographic material and prosecutors said at the time that they sought a 38-month prison sentence in the case.
Tsvetkova’s trial began in April 2021 after an investigation of almost 18 months, during which she was fined for spreading LGBTQ "propaganda" and put under house arrest.
The trial was held behind closed doors because prosecutors said they needed to show the images as evidence.
In May 2021, Tsvetkova launched a hunger strike to protest the case against her, accusing the state of the “cowardly” handling of her case and treatment that amounted to “torture.”
In June 2022, the Justice Ministry added Tsvetkova to its list of “foreign agents.”
Amnesty International has said the case against Tsvetkova amounts to political repression and “Kafkaesque absurdity,” adding that the artist was criminally charged with “producing pornography“ simply for "drawing and publishing images of the female body and freely expressing her views through art.”
In November, Tsvetkova's paintings were exhibited in Marseille, France.