In a surprise victory for LGBTQ rights in Russia, a St. Petersburg court has sided with a transgender woman who sued her employer for discrimination.

The ruling marks the first time that a Russian court has recognized workplace discrimination against a trans person, Associated Press reports.

The court ordered this week that executives at a printing company hire back the woman, who was fired after she changed gender markers on her ID in 2017.

Maks Olenichev, the unnamed woman's lawyer, said his client has been reinstated at her job and was awarded 10,000 rubles ($155) for emotional distress and 1.85 million rubles ($28,500) for lost income. Olenichev believes the verdict “will give a confidence boost to transgender people to defend their rights in Russia.”

While homosexuality in Russia is technically legal, LGBTQ citizens regularly face discrimination, harassment, and even violence.

The Russian government has drawn harsh international criticism for the country’s so-called “gay propaganda” law. President Vladimir Putin introduced the controversial legislation in 2013, prohibiting the promotion of “nontraditional relationships” to minors. The law is also used to suppress public discussion of LGBTQ rights, displays of Pride symbols, or affection between members of the same sex. Anti-LGBTQ hate crimes doubled over the next five years.

The Russian government also passed a law in 2015 banning transgender and gender-nonconforming people from operating vehicles due to their perceived “sexual disorder.”

It was reported in January that Chechnya, a republic of Russia, has resumed its anti-LGBTQ purge.