Photo: Podpisnye Izdaniya

The popular St. Petersburg bookshop Podpisnye Izdaniya has again been charged with promoting “LGBT propaganda”, independent news outlet Bumaga reported on Tuesday.

The court hearing, scheduled for Wednesday, marks the second time that the bookshop has been charged. It was fined 800,000 rubles (€8,700) after being convicted of selling books which promote “LGBT propaganda” in May.

In April, security forces seized dozens of books with LGBT and feminist themes after members of the public reported the store to authorities for selling banned titles. Podpisnye Izdaniya was then handed a list of 48 titles that needed to be removed from the shelves, including books by the late American writer Susan Sontag.

Meanwhile, its store manager, Yelena Orlova, was charged with participating in the work of an “undesirable organisation” and fined 20,000 rubles (€220) for selling the book On the Way to Magadan by Belarusian anarchist writer Ihar Alinevich, which was published with the support of the Anarchist Black Cross, an organisation that the Justice Ministry deemed “undesirable” in early 2024, independent news outlet Mediazona reported.

Opened in 1926, Podpisnye Izdaniya is one of Russia’s most famous independent bookshops and it regularly hosts book launches and events.

Podpisnye Izdaniya is not the only bookshop to be targeted by authorities this year as a nationwide crackdown on publishing houses and bookshops began in April. Other bookshops, such as independent bookstore Falanster based in Moscow, have also come under scrutiny and been charged with promoting “LGBT propaganda” while a number of publishing professionals have also been detained.