A Moscow court on Thursday held a preliminary hearing in the case of a Russian man who is suing US tech giant Apple for allegedly turning him gay.

He is seeking 1 million rubles ($15,560) in damages from Apple for sending him a cryptocurrency known as GayCoin instead of the Bitcoin he had ordered.

The bizarre civil suit has been filed in a country where casual homophobia is prevalent and a law banning "propaganda" of gay relationships to minors has stifled public activism. Representatives of the two sides are set to meet a judge at Moscow's Presnensky district court for a preliminary hearing behind closed doors.

The plaintiff, named in court papers only by his surname Razumilov, was not planning to attend in order to protect his privacy, his lawyer said. In his complaint, he says the GayCoin cryptocurrency arrived with a note saying, "Don't judge until you try."

"I thought, in truth, how can I judge something without trying? I decided to try same-sex relationships," the complainant wrote.