By Rex Wockner
INTERNATIONAL NEWS
Moscow City Hall banned a gay rally that was planned for Dec. 17.
Members of the Russian LGBT Network wanted to gather in front of the headquarters of the former KGB to demand that Russia legally rehabilitate people who were convicted under the former Soviet Union's law that banned gay sex.
The old law, Criminal Code Article 121, was enacted in 1933 and repealed in 1993.
Earlier this year, the European Court of Human Rights ruled against Moscow's yearly bans on public gay-pride events.
In a group of cases brought by Moscow Pride founder Nikolai Alekseev, the court determined that the city's pride bans violate guarantees of the European Convention on Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms in the areas of freedom of assembly and association, the right to an effective remedy and prohibition of discrimination.
Russia was ordered to pay Alekseev 12,000 euros ($15,928) in damages and 17,510 euros in costs and expenses.
The ruling has not yet come into final force.
