Two gay men are "mortal danger" after beg arrted Rsia

Contents:

• TWO CHECHEN GAY MEN 'MORTAL DANGER' AFTER ARRT RSIA
• TWO GAY MEN ARE “MORTAL DANGER” AFTER BEG ARRTED BY RSIAN THORI
• CHECHEN POLICE TA 20 DISTURBG BID TO TRACK DOWN GAY TORTURE VICTIMS’ PARENTS

TWO CHECHEN GAY MEN 'MORTAL DANGER' AFTER ARRT RSIA

In social media posts reviewed by CNN and imag released by thori, although Lee drs women’s clothg and makp some pictur and vios, Lee wr that he intifi as a gay male. But an alleged eyewns has now ma an explosive new claim: Kobyshev, the weeks after his disappearance, was beg held ptive a Grozny police cellar, where he claimed to have been btally beaten over spicns that he was gay.

The claim by Maksim Lapunov, a gay Rsian man currently sug Rsia the European Court of Human Rights, adds to the substantial ttimony of what rights groups ll a vlent purge of sexual mori by police Chechnya, which is led by Kreml-backed strongman Ramzan Kadyrov.

TWO GAY MEN ARE “MORTAL DANGER” AFTER BEG ARRTED BY RSIAN THORI

Kadyrov and other Chechen officials ny accatns of an antigay crackdown, and the Rsian ernment has said found no evince substantiatg Lapunov’s claims. Maksim Lapunov is the only person to publicly claim he was abducted and tortured the alleged crackdown Chechnya agast homosexuals.

CHECHEN POLICE TA 20 DISTURBG BID TO TRACK DOWN GAY TORTURE VICTIMS’ PARENTS

In April 2017, the pennt Rsian newspaper Novaya gazeta published a groundbreakg report tailg Chechen thori’ alleged mpaign agast gay and bisexual men Chechnya over the prev months. Several sourc Chechnya’s gay muny subsequently told RFE/RL that the crackdown began earnt December 2016 -- around a month after Kobyshev arrived the maly Mlim regn. Kobyshev’s relativ, who have been rmed of Lapunov’s claim to have seen him ptivy, say they were unaware that Kobyshev might be gay.

“There was never any discsn of homosexualy, ” his nephew, Sergei Tov, told RFE/RL.