LGBTQ activists report new wave of tentns, torture and killgs of gay people Chechnya | PBS NewsHour

Contents:

• NO END TO CHECHNYA’S VLENT ANTI-GAY CAMPAIGN
• 'ANY DAY YOU N BE TAKEN': INSI WHAT 'S LIKE TO BE GAY CHECHNYA
• CHECHNYA’S HORRIFIC ‘GAY PURGE’: A 4-YEAR TIMELE OF ABDUCTN, TORTURE AND MURR
• CHECHNYA LGBT: DOZENS 'TAED NEW GAY PURGE'
• ‘THEY STARVE YOU. THEY SHOCK YOU’: INSI THE ANTI-GAY POGROM CHECHNYA
• LGBTQ ACTIVISTS REPORT NEW WAVE OF TENTNS, TORTURE AND KILLGS OF GAY PEOPLE CHECHNYA
• WELE TO CHECHNYA: THE HARROWG FILM ABOUT THE REGIME'S GAY PURGE
• WELE TO CHECHNYA REVIEW – HARROWG TAL OF THE 'GAY PURGE'
• CHECHNYA RENEWS CRACKDOWN ON GAY PEOPLE, RIGHTS GROUP SAYS

NO END TO CHECHNYA’S VLENT ANTI-GAY CAMPAIGN

The Rsian LGBT Network has reported that May 2021, Chechen-speakg men abducted Ibragim Selimkhanov Mosw and forcibly returned him to Chechnya’s pal Grozny, where thori terrogated him about gay people the regn.

"Ricky's oral was mid-2018 and was a faiar early 2017, the world had beme aware of reports that Chechen thori were roundg up and torturg dozens of men they spected of beg gay, what me to be known as a "gay purge". The nam of most of those terviewed have been changed at their requt out of ncern the Chechen thori or their fai might harm acunts pat a picture of a place where there is now virtually no space to be gay, where datg rri potentially lethal nsequenc and the supprsn of their inty is obligatory for LGBT people. He has done that, g allegedly savage methods, and the procs Kadyrov has remolled Chechnya around himself, erectg a police state and a cult of personaly built around an obssive machismo centered on sport, particularly martial the majory-Mlim regn, wh a eply nservative culture, beg gay was never accepted.

'ANY DAY YOU N BE TAKEN': INSI WHAT 'S LIKE TO BE GAY CHECHNYA

"In 2017, that nservative hostily to homosexualy seemed to nvert to anised terror, part of a broar nservative mpaign that has also targeted dg and alhol Dzhabrailov, 27, only the send man to e forward publicly about his tentn 2017, told ABC News that armed police took him om the hair salon where he was workg. For 14 days, he said, he was held a basement wh several other gay men, taken out for torture ssns, where he was electrocuted and subjected to a mock Dzhabrailov tells ABC News'' Jam Longman the torture and terrogatn he says he endured at the hands of Chechen News"They put me on the wall, put bag on my head, " he remembered. Aluadov, who was also sanctned 2013 by the Uned Stat over the same se as Ddov, claimed the gay men allegg torture were simply seekg asylum the Wt or that they themselv were likely not Chechens.

Insi, Aluadov showed the reporters the empty cells, which were clean and looked rarely ed, as though mostly sisted he uldn't nceive how a Chechen man uld be gay and said was not him but Chechen society that will not tolerate gay men.

CHECHNYA’S HORRIFIC ‘GAY PURGE’: A 4-YEAR TIMELE OF ABDUCTN, TORTURE AND MURR

Victims have repeatedly scribed beg hand back over to their fai wh a suggtn that they kill them themselv and many of speakg anonymoly said they feared their relativ would harm them if they found such circumstanc, discsg homosexualy, let alone g out is impossible. He eventually sought asylum , a bisexual man livg the neighborg republic of Dagtan, where attus are very siar to Chechnya, had a wife and a 1-year-old baby when he said his life was men lured him to an apartment where they beat him and forced him to adm he was gay on mera. 'It’s harr for women bee they n’t leave'Many LGBT Chechens lk the eptn of more systematic vlence the past few years to a worseng atmosphere of homophobia Rsia, signaled by the passg of the notor so-lled "anti-gay propaganda" law law, which effectively banned public displays of homosexualy, has been cricized by rights groups as green-lightg discrimatn and vlence agast LGBT over Rsia, gay people reported creased hostily.

Human RightsPeople Chechnya who are spected of beg lbian, gay or bisexual, are facg a “new wave of persecutn” followg a spate of killgs volvg torture, and other rights ab, said a group of pennt UN human rights experts on Wednday. April 1, 2021, marks four years sce the world at large was first ma aware of Chechnya’s gay purge — atroci mted agast LGBTQ people wh the Rsian republic’s borrs, a horrific, ongog stratagem of abductn, tament, torture and murr. Gradually rebed by Wtern ernments over the years as first-hand acunts began to emerge, Chechnya’s gay purge has largely been ignored — if not supported through omissn — by Rsian Print Vladimir Put and his ernment.

CHECHNYA LGBT: DOZENS 'TAED NEW GAY PURGE'

After weeks of verifitn, the Rsian-language newspaper shar heart-wrenchg news out of Rsia’s North Cs: More than 100 people have been taed Chechnya, all of whom are gay or spected to be.

” Lol thori tell a news agency, “You nnot arrt or reprs people who jt don’t exist the republic, ” suggtg that Chechnya has no gay cizens, and that if did, those cizens’ relativ would have executed them unr honor killg ctoms. Amnty Internatnal lnch an “urgent actn” mpaign askg dividuals to wre to Rsian thori “urgg them to rry out prompt, effective and thorough vtigatns to the reports of abductns and killgs of men believed to be gay Chechnya and to ensure that anyone found guilty or plic such crim will be brought to jtice acrdance wh the laws of the Rsian Feratn. One of the victims of Chechnya’s gay purge, an aforementned TV journalist, has all footage of his past reportg erased by the Chechen State TV and Rad Company he worked for — “as if he simply did not exist.

It’s now believed that up to several hundred gay men have been round up, some killed, Chechnya, and The Guardian publish this story followg terviews wh gay men who claim they were tortured secret tentn facili. Lra Weste, print of the Colombian-based NGO Gpo Acción y Apoyo a Personas Trans tweets a satelle picture that reportedly shows one lotn where gay men are beg held Chechnya’s gay purge.

‘THEY STARVE YOU. THEY SHOCK YOU’: INSI THE ANTI-GAY POGROM CHECHNYA

As part of a special vtigatn, CNN releas terviews wh multiple victims of Chechnya’s gay purge (their inti ncealed), who discs the form their torture took and the “ath sentence” that has always rulted om beg openly gay the Southern Rsian republic. Speakg to Gay Star News, a Foreign and Commonwealth Office spokperson the UK nfirms that Ramzan Kadyrov, head of the Chechen Republic, has threatened to rid the area of homosexualy “by Ramadan, ” which falls on May 26. Followg reports of a 17-year-old man thrown off a nth floor balny by his own uncle for beg gay, Hor announc the lnch of s “Know Your Rights” mpaign, an tnal effort to help make gay men and travelers aware of their rights different untri around the world.

LGBTQ ACTIVISTS REPORT NEW WAVE OF TENTNS, TORTURE AND KILLGS OF GAY PEOPLE CHECHNYA

One week after Rsia promised to nduct an vtigatn to Chechnya’s gay purge, the Rsian Embassy to Israel wr to the Israeli newspaper Haaretz, “There are no victims of persecutn, threats or vlence” the republic. One of many artists and activists spreadg rmatn and brgg awarens to Chechnya’s gay purge, Brooklyn-based illtrator Pl Tuller sells a new T-shirt, wh 100% of the profs gog to the Rsian LGBTQ Network. Three French LGBTQ groups — Stop Homophobia, Mose and Come Idaho France — file a plat agast Chechnya wh the Internatnal Crimal Court, accg the Rsian republic of “a policy of genoci” towards gay people and blamg Chechen print Ramzan Kadyrov and his officials for a “wave of persecutn.

The Baltic News Service reports that the eastern European natn of Lhuania has granted visas to at least two men who fled Chechnya’s gay purge, timed wh the Internatnal Day Agast Homophobia, Biphobia and Transphobia (IDAHOT). Novaya Gazeta publish a report sayg 26 people have now been murred “extrajudicial killgs” as part of Chechnya’s gay purge, and go on to acce Chechen thori of a systematic sabotage of Rsia’s vtigatn efforts. The ostensible purpose of the torture is to get the nam of other gay men, but one refugee tells Human Rights Watch that if a victim giv up rmatn, actually prolongs the torture hop of more rmatn.

WELE TO CHECHNYA: THE HARROWG FILM ABOUT THE REGIME'S GAY PURGE

On the eve of the first G20 summ meetg between Tmp and Put, The Rsian LGBT Network — which has at this pot helped approximately 40 gay Chechens pe the regn — says has “received more lls om Chechnya the last 72 hours” and has “credible evince that arrts are happeng aga. While beg terviewed, Kadyrov refers to Chechnya as “a pletely mocratic republic, ” touts the republic’s eedom of speech and happy cizens, and dismiss all claims of Chechnya’s gay purge as “nonsense. The report has three other ma takeaways: (1) the cultural ndns that set the stage for Chechnya’s anti-gay purge; (2) how Chechen thori are fdg spected homosexuals, cludg roadsi stops, home raids and workplace viss; and (3) the torture methods ed Chechnya’s gay purge, cludg electrocutn, beatgs, starvatn, hydratn, isolatn, forced nudy and verbal abe.

Khudoberdi Nurmatov, a 30-year-old openly gay journalist who helped unver Chechnya’s gay purge while workg for Novaya Gazeta, has his portatn to Uzbekistan temporarily halted by a Rsian urt.

WELE TO CHECHNYA REVIEW – HARROWG TAL OF THE 'GAY PURGE'

On Canada’s secret work to assist gay Chechen refuge, Rabow Railroad’s Executive Director Kimahli Powell says, “We need to be discreet about the program for as long as possible to mata their safety.

Maxim Lapunov, a 30-year-old who origally me to Chechnya om Siberia, puts a public face on Chechnya’s gay purge, tellg his story to Noyaya Gazeta and participatg a public prs nference. Rankg exam everythg om anti-discrimatn legislatn, marriage equaly, adoptn and transgenr rights to negative factors like relig fluence, hostile lols, whether or not Pri events have been banned, and the really dangero stuff: prosecutn, murr and ath sentenc for beg gay.

The Rsian LGBT Network nfirms to Hor that Chechnya’s gay purge has neher stopped nor let up: “We know for sure that persecutn of LGBT people Chechnya did not stop; we ntue to receive rmatn that people are still kidnapped, taed and tortured.

CHECHNYA RENEWS CRACKDOWN ON GAY PEOPLE, RIGHTS GROUP SAYS

Though some women had been round up the purge’s first wav, was prevly more mon for them to be outed to their fai and then eher imprisoned, murred or subjected to “homophobic rape” at home. Most people Rsia haven’t even heard about Chechnya’s gay purge, says the Rsian LGBT Network: “Almost all feral mass media Rsia is state-ntrolled, and there isn’t that much rmatn about this persecutn. Image source, Getty ImagImage ptn, Chechen lear Ramzan Kadyrov has prevly claimed the reports were "ma up"Activists Rsia say there has been a new crackdown agast LGBT people Rsian LGBT Network believ about 40 people have been imprisoned sce December - two of whom they say have died unr group has been monorg alleged ab the maly Mlim Rsian republic sce 2017 when dozens of gay people were reportedly taed.

tentns after which people might report focs on the anti-gay persecutns, which, suggts, are ced by the Rsian feral law agast so-lled propaganda of homosexualy, but also on tmped-up prosecutns and on extrajudicial killgs. But for the young man who lls himself Maksim, as for sr of other gay men arrted a pogrom this month Rsia’s Chechnya regn, pivoted to nearly two weeks of beatgs and said had started wh a chat room nversatn wh “a very good old iend who is also gay, ” and who suggted that they meet at an apartment. Kadyrov, is a new turn the regn’s long history of rights Gazeta, an opposn newspaper, first reported the pogrom, sayg that at least 100 gay men had been arrted and three killed the roundup.