Pleas for Help From Gay Men Chechnya on Rise, Rsian Group Says

Contents:

• NO END TO CHECHNYA’S VLENT ANTI-GAY CAMPAIGN
• A VICTIM OF THE ANTI-GAY PURGE CHECHNYA SPEAKS OUT: 'THE TTH EXISTS'
• CHECHNYA: ESPED GAY MEN SENT BACK BY RSIAN POLICE
• CHECHNYA’S HORRIFIC ‘GAY PURGE’: A 4-YEAR TIMELE OF ABDUCTN, TORTURE AND MURR
• ‘THEY STARVE YOU. THEY SHOCK YOU’: INSI THE ANTI-GAY POGROM CHECHNYA
• CHECHNYA LGBT: DOZENS 'TAED NEW GAY PURGE'
• CHECHNYA OPENS INVTIGATN INTO KIDNAPPGS, MURRS OF GAYS
• CHECHNYA ACCED OF 'GAY GENOCI' ICC PLAT
• U.N. EXPERTS CONMN KILLG AND TORTURE OF GAY MEN CHECHNYA
• HOW A RSIAN JOURNALIST EXPOSED THE ANTI-GAY CRACKDOWN CHECHNYA
• HOE LGBT CC DENOUNC ATTACKS ON GAY MEN CHECHNYA
• 'I WANT JTICE': VICTIM OF CHECHNYA'S 'HUNT FOR GAYS' COM FORWARD
• CHECHEN AUTHORI ARRTG AND KILLG GAY MEN, RSIAN PAPER SAYS
• PLEAS FOR HELP FROM GAY MEN CHECHNYA ON RISE, RSIAN GROUP SAYS
• CHECHEN THORI ROUNDG UP AND KILLG GAY MEN 'PROPHYLACTIC PURGE,' RSIAN PAPER 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.

Though the three men didn’t expla why they had e, soon beme clear, as they took Dzhabrailov’s phone, mand his password and started surg the vice for msag and photos that would prove he was guilty of somethg nsired eply shameful the nservative, predomantly Mlim republic: beg gay. Dpe ternatnal attentn and outcry that followed the 2017 purge — cludg lls for Rsian officials to vtigate reported lawlsns and misbehavr among Chechen law enforcement — human rights anizatns say another anti-gay sweep took place late 2018 and early 2019. One ernment spokperson said wasn’t possible bee gay people “don’t exist” that part of Rsia and if they did, their own relativ would be so ashamed that they “would have sent them to where they uld never return.

Given the strength of the taboo Chechnya, beg openly gay “is simply not an optn” and “g out of the closet would be suicidal, ” says Tanya Loksha, associate director for Human Rights Watch Europe and Central Asia. Image source, Getty ImagImage ptn, Chechnya has long been acced of persecutg sexual moriTwo gay Chechen men who fled to Rsia after allegedly beg tortured have been returned to Chechnya and are "mortal danger", a rights group Rsian LGBT Network said Salekh Magamadov and Ismail Isayev had been seized and returned by Rsian police. The group says they were later forcibly returned to thori Chechnya, a southern republic of people and other sexual mori face systematic persecutn predomantly Mlim Chechnya, where homophobia is regn's thorarian lear, Ramzan Kadyrov, has nsistently nied allegatns of illegal tentns and human rights and other ernment officials have even suggted there are no members of the LGBT+ muny source, RtersImage ptn, Chechen lear Ramzan Kadyrov (R) has nsistently nied allegatns of human rights abDpe official nials, dozens have e forward wh allegatns that they have been taed and tortured by thori bee of their sexual Magamadov and Mr Isayev are among LGBT Network said the men had arrived at a police statn the Chechen town of Gurm on Saturday.

A VICTIM OF THE ANTI-GAY PURGE CHECHNYA SPEAKS OUT: 'THE TTH EXISTS'

"They are tired and ightened, " a spokman for the group, Tim Btsvet, told AFP news the ctody of Chechen thori, the men were "mortal danger", Mr Btsvet source, Getty ImagImage ptn, Chechnya has nied the existence of gay people the regnThe group has been monorg alleged ab Chechnya sce 2017, when dozens of gay people were reportedly 2019, the group alleged a h wave of persecutn and ab, accg Chechen police of killg two people unr torture. A ernment spokman dismissed that report as "plete li" said he was subjected to torture - cludg electric shocks and ptn, 'Rlan', a gay man who says he fled: "It's the extermatn of gay men"More on this story.

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. ” 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.

CHECHNYA: ESPED GAY MEN SENT BACK BY RSIAN POLICE

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.

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. 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.

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

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).

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

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.

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. 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. 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. 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. In Chechnya, beme somethg even worse — a mass “prophylactic” cleansg of homosexuals, the secury service agents told the gay men as they round them men were held for as ltle as a day or as long as several weeks, acrdg to Human Rights Watch and to terviews wh gay men who later ped the regn.

CHECHNYA LGBT: DOZENS 'TAED NEW GAY PURGE'

Pkov, told journalists that the Rsian thori had found no evince that the Chechen police had arrted gay quickly beme clear to Maksim and the other men that the Chechen thori were applyg the same tactics ed by Rsia and by Mr. Secury service agents took to posg as gay men lookg for dat on the Village and other chat rooms, or persuad those they had already ptured to lure acquatanc, those arrted said spread among gay Chechens.

His acunt of the ceptn ed to ta him was nsistent wh others documented by Human Rights Watch and wh the acunts of the two other gay men terviewed separately for this six of the men the apartment were transferred to a makhift cell an abandoned buildg, where they were tortured wh electricy one by one, Maksim 11 days, he was released to a male relative, who was told that Maksim was gay.

Petersburg, which has tablished an emergency, round-the-clock volunteer group to help gay men pe the reassure the victims they are tryg to help, the activists have taken extraordary preutns, operatg virtually as a partisan cell behd enemy l, though they have done nothg illegal unr Rsian law.

CHECHNYA OPENS INVTIGATN INTO KIDNAPPGS, MURRS OF GAYS

“The people don’t tst anybody, ” said Olga Baranova, director of the Mosw Communy Center, a support group for gays that is part of the volunteer work helpg gay men flee arrivg at the safe lotn outsi Chechnya, several young men said they had spected that the volunteer group was also a trap but had no other optn but to accept the help, Ms.

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. The regnal prosecutor's office Chechnya will vtigate reports that lol thori are rryg out mass arrts of spected gay men the North Csian Chechen prosecutor lnched the vtigatn after the Novaya Gazeta newspaper published s shockg report on anti-gay reprsns, Rsia's State Prosecutor's office told the RIA Novosti news Novaya Gazeta and Tatiana Moskalkova, Rsia's human rights ombudswoman, formally petned for an vtigatn of “the mass kidnappg of people Chechnya, ” a State Prosecutor's office spokperson told the RBC news April 8, Dmry Muratov, Novaya Gazeta's edor appealed to Rsian Prosecutor General Yuri Chaika to force the Invtigative Commtee to open an vtigatn to the rights vlatns Chechnya.

Image source, AFPImage ptn, Concern about the plight of gay men Chechnya rurfaced across Europe last month followg reports of persecutn the Rsian newspaper Novaya GazetaThree French gay rights groups have acced the Rsian republic of Chechnya of a policy of genoci towards gay people a plat filed at the Internatnal Crimal Court. Chechen officials have nied that gay people even exist the the three French groups have rejected Rsia's ternal vtigatn, and want the Internatnal Crimal Court The Hague to start work before Rsia whdraws om s jurisdictn November.

CHECHNYA ACCED OF 'GAY GENOCI' ICC PLAT

It quoted the lear of Idaho France - one of the three groups stigatg the ICC se - as sayg the urt was the only way they uld pursue their week five gay rights activists were taed Mosw as they tried to liver a petn to the office of Rsia's prosecutor said they were held bee their actn was activists said more than two ln people had signed the petn to vtigate alleged torture and tentns of gay people Chechnya. AdvertisementSKIP Sadulayev/Associated PrsApril 13, 2017LONDON — Uned Natns experts mand on Thursday that Chechnya halt the abductn, tentn, beatg and killg of gay and bisexual men, after weeks of reports about vlent reprsn there.

U.N. EXPERTS CONMN KILLG AND TORTURE OF GAY MEN CHECHNYA

”Acrdg to Novaya Gazeta, the persecutn tensified after a group based Mosw,, applied for perms to stage gay-pri paras four ci the North Cs group did not apply for a perm Chechnya, but did another Mlim area the regn, Kabardo-Balkaria. Gay men have begun letg onle acunts or even fleeg the regn, the newspaper Uned Natns experts urged the thori to end the persecutn, sayg that Chechens were “livg a climate of fear fueled by homophobic speech by lol thori.

” They also mand that the thori immediately release all tae, thoroughly vtigate the anti-gay mpaign and hold the persecutors experts nmned statements by Chechen officials suggtg that gay people should be hunted down and killed. “The Rsian Feratn mt officially state that do not tolerate any form of cement to vlence, social stigmatizatn of homosexualy or hate speech, and do not ndone discrimatn or vlence agast people based on their sexual orientatn or genr inty, ” their statement was ltle suggtn that Mosw would give the experts’ warngs much heed. In 2013, a law crimalized givg mors materials promotg “nontradnal” sexual relatnships — a statute that has been ed to jtify the arrts of gay rights experts are V Muntarbhorn of Thailand, who foc on sexual orientatn and genr inty; Sètondji Roland Adjovi of Ben, an expert on arbrary tentn; Agnès Callamard of France, an thory on extrajudicial, summary or arbrary executns; Nils Melzer of Swzerland, who foc on torture and other cel, humane and gradg treatment or punishment; and David Kaye of the Uned Stat, a specialist eedom of opn and Sewell Chan on Twter Matsnev ntributed reportg om Mosw.

HOW A RSIAN JOURNALIST EXPOSED THE ANTI-GAY CRACKDOWN CHECHNYA

In exchange for profsg loyalty to Put and keepg Chechnya nomally part of Rsia, s forty-year-old lear, Ramzan Kadyrov, is allowed to le the republic as his own private origal reportg on the arrt, torture, and murr of gay men Chechnya was published April,  Novaya Gazeta, an pennt and muckrakg Rsian newspaper. The New Yorker spoke to her recently about her reportg, the suatn for gay men Chechnya, and the global outcry rponse to her the extraordary difficulty reportg on the ground Chechnya, how do you generally go about llectg and publishg rmatn on what is happeng there?

If they were found out, fai would choose to close their ey to this fact—havg a male relative who was known to be gay would be too great a shame for the fay, or even the whole clan, which n n to hundreds of people. They don’t want to ttify agast themselv or implite their fay Wtern verage of the anti-gay mpaign, there were some horrific scriptns and headl of the vlence rried out agast Chechnya’s gay populatn—for example, scribg “ncentratn mps” set up by lol thori. MOSCOW — A gay Rsian man acced thori Chechnya on Monday of jailg and beatg him as part of a broad crackdown on LGBTQ Lapunov said durg a news nference that unintified people taed him on a street the Rsian regn's provcial pal, Grozny, March and drove him to a tentn beat him wh sticks durg the nearly two weeks he was kept ctody, and forced Lapunov and his partner, who also was taed and beaten, to fight each other, Lapunov said.

Lapunov is the first person to file a plat wh Rsian thori over a wave of arrts of gay people earlier this year that human rights fenrs and media outlets say have taken place unr Chechen strongman Ramzan Kadyrov.

HOE LGBT CC DENOUNC ATTACKS ON GAY MEN CHECHNYA

Kadyrov and other officials Chechnya have nied any crackdown on gay Kreml has relied on Kadyrov to stabilize Chechnya after two vastatg separatist wars, effectively allowg him to n the mostly Mlim regn the North Cs mountas like his personal fiefdom. "There has been no official vtigatn to the hunt for gays that saw extrajudicial tentns and torture of dozens of people durg the sprg, " Tanya Loksha, the Rsia program director at Human Rights Watch, said. Over the past week, men rangg age om 16 to 50 have disappeared om the streets of Saturday, a leadg Rsian opposn newspaper nfirmed a story already circulatg among human rights activists: The Chechen thori were arrtg and killg gay ab by secury servic the regn, where Rsia fought a two- war agast Islamic surgents, have long been a sta on Print Vladimir V.

Put’s human rights rerd, gay people had not prevly been targeted on a wi men were taed “ nnectn wh their nontradnal sexual orientatn, or spicn of such, ” the newspaper, Novaya Gazeta, reported, cg Rsian feral law enforcement officials, who blamed the lol Saturday, the paper reported, and an analyst of the regn wh her own sourc nfirmed, that more than 100 gay men had been taed. Karimov sweep, like so much else Rsian polics today, was entangled the untry’s troubled polics of street began, Novaya Gazeta reported, after a Mosw-based gay rights group,, applied for perms to stage gay pri paras four ci Rsia’s predomantly Mlim North Cs regn, of which Chechnya is a group had not foced on the Mlim areas.

It had been applyg for perms for gay paras provcial ci around Rsia, and llectg the evable nials, orr to build a se about gay rights and eedom of assembly wh the European Court of Human Rights, Strasbourg, France.

'I WANT JTICE': VICTIM OF CHECHNYA'S 'HUNT FOR GAYS' COM FORWARD

Nikolai Alekseev, a gay rights activist ordatg this effort, told Novaya Gazeta he had chosen this tactic rather than stagg risky, unsanctned gay group had not applied for a perm Chechnya, but another Mlim regn southern Rsia, Kabardo-Balkaria. Sce news broke nearly two weeks ago of thori Chechnya arrtg men spected of beg gay and torturg them a secretive tentn center, a Rsian emergency hotle said has received creasg pleas for help om people who have been targeted. Stephen Chung / London News Pictur via ZumaPoplevskaia told NBC News the anizatn set up the emergency hotle after learng about a law enforcement crackdown on Chechen men who are believed to be gay or bisexual.

Ukraian journalist Maxim Eristavi, who is openly gay and equently ments on LGBTQ and human rights issu across Eastern Europe, told NBC News that Kadyrov's forc have "one of the worst human rights rerds of all Rsian regns. ""What is happeng right now wh gay men is part of a longtime practice of state vlence towards dissentg voic Chechnya, " Eristavi said, addg that reporters om Novaya Gazeta have been killed the past after reportg on the Eristavi took issue wh some media reports that referred to the Argun tentn center as a "gay ncentratn mp, " sayg the center has been e for some time to hold and torture var tae — not jt LGBTQ on. Creatg more misrmatn n damage and endanger people on the ground and discred those who are tryg to brg more attentn to the issue, " Eristavi reports of a ncentratn mp may not be accurate, human rights groups have said the Chechen suatn is the worst abe of LGBTQ people seen Sjod, Deputy Executive Director at Outright Internatnal, told NBC News she's heard reports of 100 or more people beg taed on spicn of homosexualy.

"Rsian rt policemen ta an LGBTQ activist durg an unthorized gay rights rally central Mosw on May 25, Smirnov / AFP/Getty ImagEven Rsia, where hate crim and discrimatn have risen sce Put signed a law banng "gay propaganda" 2013, the level of vlence is unual. MOSCOW— -- Authori the southern Rsian republic of Chechnya have reportedly kidnapped dozens of gay men the past month and killed at least three as part of an roundup orred agast LGBT people Gazeta, a rpected Rsian opposn newspaper, as well as a number of human rights activists, said has rmatn suggtg that over 100 people acced of beg gay have been arrted recent weeks a "prophylactic purge, " cg multiple sourc Chechnya's secury servic and the republic's LGBT roundup has swept up men om across the republic, cludg two well-known lol televisn personali, the newspaper, Novaya Gazeta, men disappeared " nnectn wh their nontradnal orientatn or spicn of such, " the paper said.

CHECHEN AUTHORI ARRTG AND KILLG GAY MEN, RSIAN PAPER SAYS

A majory-Mlim republic vastated by two separatist wars wh Rsia sce 1994, Chechnya is regularly the scene of alleged btal human rights ab, wh s secury servic acced by rights groups of rryg out extrajudicial killgs and torturg opponents of s print, Ramzan was already a dangero place to be gay, where attus on homosexualy are eply nservative and gay men are often shunned as brgg dishonor to their fai, wh anti-gay attacks mon. Kadyrov's ernment has recently lnched a drive promotg what lls tradnal valu, cludg alleged stigatg of gay Karimov, a spokman for Kadyrov, on Sunday rejected the Novaya Gazeta story as "absolute li, " sayg was impossible bee Chechnya has no homosexuals.

PLEAS FOR HELP FROM GAY MEN CHECHNYA ON RISE, RSIAN GROUP SAYS

CHECHEN THORI ROUNDG UP AND KILLG GAY MEN 'PROPHYLACTIC PURGE,' RSIAN PAPER SAYS