A Moscow judge handed down a four-year suspended sentence on Friday to the former head of the independent publishing houses Popcorn Books and Individuum after finding him guilty of LGBTQ+ “extremism.”
Dmitry Protopopov was among three senior managers arrested in May 2025 and charged with “extremism” following a 2023 ruling by Russia’s Supreme Court to outlaw the so-called “international LGBT movement,” thereby making it a criminal offense to publish, sell or distribute literature with LGBTQ+ themes.
Prosecutors accused Protopopov and his colleagues of devising a scheme that would allow them to sell books with LGBTQ+ themes to “loyal customers” in an effort to avoid writing off 10 million rubles ($121,700) in losses.
In addition to the suspended sentence, a judge from the Zamoskvoretsky District Court placed Protopopov on probation for five years and banned him from working in publishing or managing websites for four years, granting the prosecution’s request in full.
The court also seized 8.7 million rubles ($106,000) representing Protopopov’s total earnings while employed by Eksmo, Russia’s largest publishing group. Eksmo acquired majority stakes in Individuum and its imprint Popcorn Books in 2023.
