Judge Oleg Nefedov, Who Outlawed the 'LGBT Movement', Appointed Deputy Chief Justice of Russia's Supreme Court
On October 14, 2026, during a plenary session in Moscow, Russia’s Federation Council appointed Judge Oleg Nefedov as Deputy Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of the Russian Federation and Chairman of the Judicial Collegium for Civil Cases. Russian President Vladimir Putin submitted Nefedov’s nomination for the leadership post, which was subsequently unanimously endorsed by the Federation Council’s Committee on Constitutional Legislation and State-Building.
According to the Russian business newspaper Kommersant, the decision was approved during the 620th meeting of the parliament’s upper chamber. Presenting the candidate to senators, committee chair Andrey Klishas highlighted Nefedov’s long-standing judicial career and compliance with professional qualifications. Prior to his promotion, Oleg Nefedov served in the Supreme Court’s Judicial Collegium for Administrative Cases and had also chaired the court’s Disciplinary Collegium since June 2024.
Oleg Nefedov gained widespread prominence by presiding over major political and ideological court proceedings in recent years. On November 30, 2023, Nefedov ruled in a closed-door hearing in favor of a petition from the Russian Ministry of Justice, declaring the non-existent “International LGBT Public Movement” an “extremist organization” and banning its activities across the country. That ruling triggered widespread administrative and criminal crackdowns against queer individuals, advocacy initiatives, and public displays of rainbow symbols throughout Russia. In July 2025, Nefedov issued an identical ruling outlawing the “International Movement of Satanism.”
Furthermore, Nefedov repeatedly reviewed administrative lawsuits filed by opposition politician Alexei Navalny challenging punitive solitary confinement (SHIZO), harsh detention conditions, and denials of access to religious and literary books in penal colonies. The judge systematically dismissed every grievance brought by Navalny. Nefedov also sanctioned the liquidation of PARNAS, one of Russia’s oldest democratic opposition parties, and upheld election commission decisions barring anti-war presidential candidates Boris Nadezhdin and Yekaterina Duntsova from the 2024 ballot.
In June 2026, Uránia reported on European Union sanctions imposed on Oleg Nefedov for persistent human rights violations, suppression of civic freedoms, and the dismantling of independent organizations. Legal experts and rights monitors view the judge’s promotion as official state endorsement of judicial mechanisms weaponized against civil society, which recently culminated in criminal prosecutions for alleged satanism.
