The Gay Men Who Fled Chechnya’s Purge | The New Yorker

Contents:

• RSIA'S LGBT 'CONCENTRATN CAMPS': PRISONS FOR GAY MEN IN CHECHNYA, REPORTS SAY
• MORE THAN 100 GAY MEN 'SENT TO PRISON MPS' CHECHNYA
• ‘THEY STARVE YOU. THEY SHOCK YOU’: INSI THE ANTI-GAY POGROM CHECHNYA
• CHECHNYA LGBT: DOZENS 'TAED NEW GAY PURGE'
• REPORTS OF ‘NCENTRATN MPS’ AND TORTURE FOR GAY MEN RSIA
• ALLEGED GAY 'CONCENTRATN CAMPS' IN CHECHNYA SPARK GLOBAL OUTRAGE
• GAY MEN ARE BEG HELD IN CONCENTRATN CAMPS IN CHECHNYA
• GAY MEN ARE BEG SUBJECTED TO 'CONCENTRATN CAMPS' IN RSIA
• GAY CHECHENS REPORT DAYS OF BEATGS AND ELECTRO-SHOCK TORTURE AT HANDS OF RSIAN ERNMENT-BACKED THUGS
• THE GAY MEN WHO FLED CHECHNYA’S PURGE
• GAY MEN UNR THE NAZI REGIME

RSIA'S LGBT 'CONCENTRATN CAMPS': PRISONS FOR GAY MEN IN CHECHNYA, REPORTS SAY

The allegatns me after a few eyewns and survivors said terviews wh the Rsian publitn that they were arrted and taed at one of the secret prisons Argun, a town the Chechen Republic, 100 gay men have been reportedly taed and at least three killed the past week Chechnya by the police.

The "ncentratn mps" are beg ed to force homosexuals to m that they would leave the republic, acrdg to Novaya Is Vlence Agast LGBT Communy Increasg Unr Tmp Admistratn?

The officials Chechnya started torturg the homosexuals after a Rsia-based NGO for LGBT rights — — applied for a gay rights march the pal of Grozny, reports said. Meanwhile, Chechen’s Print Ramzan Kadyrov, who is a key ally of Rsian Print Vladimir Put, has been acced of settg up the mps to torture gay people.

MORE THAN 100 GAY MEN 'SENT TO PRISON MPS' CHECHNYA

Gay men Chechnya have begun letg their onle acunts or have started fleeg the regn, acrdg to the New York Tim. For ee real time breakg news alerts sent straight to your box sign up to our breakg news emailsSign up to our ee breakg news emailsGay men are beg held “mps” the Chechen Republic where they are subjected to torture and beatgs, human rights mpaigners have claims follow reports last week that 100 gay men had been round up and imprisoned Chechnya, wh at least three people allegedly murred. At the time, Chechen lear Ramzan Kadyrov’s spokperson nied the claims on the grounds that no one Chechnya is homosexual.

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

Reactn to gay uple Rsia: a social experiment“If such people existed Chechnya, law enforcement would not have to worry about them sce their own relativ would have sent them to where they uld never return. Speakg to the MailOnle, Svetlana Zakharova om the Rsian LGBT work, said: “Gay people have been taed and round up and we are workg to evacuate people om the mps and some have now left the regn.

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. But the targeted, llective punishment of gays that began last month unr s pro-Kreml lear, Ramzan A. 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.

The victims e assumed nam their everyday followg acunt is based on terviews wh Maksim, who is his 20s, and two other gay men who were taed by Chechen secury agents. Homosexualy is taboo Chechnya and the mostly Mlim surroundg areas of the Cs regn southern Rsia. ”Neverthels, before the crackdown, gay men Chechnya uld at least lead social liv, if heavily closeted on, Maksim said.

CHECHNYA LGBT: DOZENS 'TAED NEW GAY PURGE'

” Hill for The New York TimThe crackdown began after GayRsia, a rights group based Mosw, applied for perms for gay pri paras the Cs regn, promptg unterprotts by relig groups, the men said.

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. Kadyrov’s spokman, Alvi Karimov, said the reports of an anti-gay pogrom had to be false bee such men did not exist Chechnya. Kadyrov characterized as “libelo” news reports that the secury servic Chechnya had been persecutg gay on Thursday, Mr.

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.

REPORTS OF ‘NCENTRATN MPS’ AND TORTURE FOR GAY MEN RSIA

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. ”That, seems, is sentially what happened to Maksim, who had been rrpondg wh his gay acquatance for some time. 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.

ALLEGED GAY 'CONCENTRATN CAMPS' IN CHECHNYA SPARK GLOBAL OUTRAGE

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. “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. ’”The work bought airplane tickets for Chechen gay men, found safe ho and arranged for doctors to treat those who had been badly beaten.

“Gays Chechnya and the North Cs are lethal danger, ” Igor Kochetkov, director of the Rsian LGBT Network, said a telephone terview. ”A versn of this article appears prt on, Sectn A, Page 13 of the New York edn wh the headle: Chechnya’s Anti-Gay Pogrom: ‘They Starve You. 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.

GAY MEN ARE BEG HELD IN CONCENTRATN CAMPS IN CHECHNYA

Homophobia is wispread the highly nservative and predomantly Mlim Rsian Kadyrov and other ernment figur have repeatedly claimed Chechnya has no gay populatn at all. Media ptn, 'Rlan', a gay man who says he fled: "It's the extermatn of gay men""They have a special black box and they attach wir to your hands or ears.

Internatnal human rights activists are cryg reports that at least 100 gay men have been arrted, and three killed, the Rsian regn of Chechnya.

GAY MEN ARE BEG SUBJECTED TO 'CONCENTRATN CAMPS' IN RSIA

Much like Karimov before her, however, Saratova downplayed the existence of gay people the regn at large. “In his nfirmatn heargs, [Tillerson] rpond to a qutn on the human rights of LGBTQ people by notg that ‘Amerin valu don’t acmodate vlence or discrimatn agast anyone, ’” advocy unsel Shawn Gaylord said a statement to The Huffgton Post.

GAY CHECHENS REPORT DAYS OF BEATGS AND ELECTRO-SHOCK TORTURE AT HANDS OF RSIAN ERNMENT-BACKED THUGS

Amnty Internatnal, meanwhile, lnched a petn of s own, mandg that Chechnya to “stop abductg and killg” gay men. ”The Chechen ernment won’t adm that gay men even exist Chechnya, let alone that they orred what the police ll ‘preventive moppg up’ of people they em unsirable, ” the petn, which had over 25, 000 signatur as of Tuday afternoon, read. “We are seeg very ltle rponse to this the mastream media, and ernment actn so far is poor, ” Steve Taylor, who is the munitns director for the European Pri Organizers Associatn (EPOA) told Gay Star News.

THE GAY MEN WHO FLED CHECHNYA’S PURGE

A Rsian newspaper reported that Chechens spected of beg gay have been round up and taed secret prisons. In early April 2017, the Rsian newspaper Novaya Gazeta reported that men the Republic of Chechnya acced of beg gay had been "illegally taed, beaten, tortured wh electric shocks" and held for ransom "secret prisons" around Chechnya, cludg a former ary facily the town of Argun.

Homophobia and tolerance are not only prevalent Chechnya, an Amnty Internatnal Rsia spokperson told , but are fostered by the Chechen thori. "Honor killgs" of men perceived as tarnishg their fay's reputatns by beg gay (or perceived as gay) often go unpunished. Acrdg to a Novaya Gazeta report, men believed to be gay are kept a former police statn (pound) near Argun.

GAY MEN UNR THE NAZI REGIME

Among those who are allegedly taed are not only men perceived to be gay, but also spected sympathizers of the armed group llg self “Islamic State” and spected dg ers. Another one person who ntacted the Network reported that his acquatance was also taed on spicn of homosexualy. The head of the lol Interr Mistry dismissed the earlier report as a "bad April Fools' joke, " while the spokman for Ramzan Kadyrov, Chechnya's strongman lear, claimed there were no homosexuals Chechnya.

Photo: ZumaWire/REX/ShutterstockGay men are allegedly beg taed and tortured ncentratn mp-like prisons the Rsian regn of Chechnya, acrdg to reports.

The news after reports last week suggted more than 100 spected gay men were taed and three killed by Chechen police. Several mps have been set up by the thori where gay men are beg tortured and others killed, acrdg to pennt lol newspaper Novoya Gazeta. Prisoners are also beaten to force them to reveal fellow members of the gay muny, one pee told Novoya Gazeta.