No End to Chechnya’s Vlent Anti-Gay Campaign | Human Rights Watch

Contents:

• NO END TO CHECHNYA’S VLENT ANTI-GAY CAMPAIGN
• CHECHNYA: ESPED GAY MEN SENT BACK BY RSIAN POLICE
• 'ANY DAY YOU N BE TAKEN': INSI WHAT 'S LIKE TO BE GAY CHECHNYA
• INSI CHECHNYA’S GULAG FOR GAY MEN
• CHECHNYA LGBT: DOZENS 'TAED NEW GAY PURGE'
• JOURNALIST WHO UNVERED CHECHNYA’S ANTI-GAY PURGE ATTACKED
• ONLY FIVE UNTRI ARE HELPG GAY CHECHENS LEAVE RSIA
• RUTHLS WARLORD WHO LED 'GAY PURG' CHECHNYA KILLED FIGHTG FOR RSIA UKRAE
• CHECHNYA IS TRYG TO EXTERMATE GAY PEOPLE. OUR SILENCE ONLY EMBOLNS VLADIMIR PUT AND RAMZAN KADYROV.
• CHECHNYA’S HORRIFIC ‘GAY PURGE’: A 4-YEAR TIMELE OF ABDUCTN, TORTURE AND MURR
• WARLORD WHO HELPED OVERSEE CHECHNYA’S BTAL ‘GAY PURGE’ KILLED UKRAE

NO END TO CHECHNYA’S VLENT ANTI-GAY CAMPAIGN

Two gay brothers have been taed for a month on charg their fay says are fabrited, and more than 20 of their relativ were terrogated by police this 24 2021 3:56 PMWorld. Men taed recent months scribe torture, cludg electric shock and beg raped wh a stick, as police mand they turn over nam of gays, acrdg to the Human Rights Watch. 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.

CHECHNYA: ESPED GAY MEN SENT BACK BY RSIAN POLICE

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.

"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. "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".

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

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. "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.

INSI CHECHNYA’S GULAG FOR GAY MEN

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 LGBT: DOZENS 'TAED NEW GAY PURGE'

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 scribed a daily sappg fear, where every teractn wh the police uld rried potentially tastrophic durg the new wave of arrts last wter, Omar's mother advertently disvered he was gay.

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.

JOURNALIST WHO UNVERED CHECHNYA’S ANTI-GAY PURGE ATTACKED

'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.

ONLY FIVE UNTRI ARE HELPG GAY CHECHENS LEAVE RSIA

But Chechnya seemed to enurage and may have later given ver to extreme vlence by the secury 2016, there was still a ty but still active unrground gay scene Chechnya. Most lbian's romantic liv are rced to talkg on onle msenger servic, she said, or meetg some ways life Chechnya, where women are already face rtrictns, is even harr for gay women. Rsian gay rights activist Nika Saonov pos ont of a police partment as he is released after beg taed central Mosw for havg llected two ln signatur on a petn llg for a probe to a reported crackdown on Chechnya’s LGBT muny.

RUTHLS WARLORD WHO LED 'GAY PURG' CHECHNYA KILLED FIGHTG FOR RSIA UKRAE

Most survivors of this vlence by Chechen secury forc are gay or bisexual men; transgenr and genrqueer dividuals, as well as lbian and bisexual women, have also been targeted. Any exprsn of a non-heterosexual inty is seen as a vlatn of the norm – even though homosexualy is not a punishable offense unr Rsian law, which also appli Chechnya. Opprsn is pecially directed agast homosexual and bisexual Chechen men who are forced to hi their homosexualy orr to nform to the image of masculy enshred Chechen society.

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. 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. Milasha also faced tense backlash and threats 2017 after first breakg the news of the Chechen ernment’s crackdown on men and women who were eher gay or genr-nonnformg the Mlim-majory regn of the Cc.

Milasha ially reported on more than 100 Chechens — primarily gay men — who were arrted and taed makhift prisons and ncentratn mps, where they were often subjected to torture and asked to name other people whom they knew to be gay. Upon beg released, survivors of the makhift tentn centers reported that thori enuraged their fai to take matters to their own hands and perform “honor killgs” of relativ spected to be gay.

CHECHNYA IS TRYG TO EXTERMATE GAY PEOPLE. OUR SILENCE ONLY EMBOLNS VLADIMIR PUT AND RAMZAN KADYROV.

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In another blow to lbian, gay, bisexual, and transgenr (LGBT) rights Hungary, on July 13, the Hungarian ernment proposed a bill that exclus transgenr women om a women-only pensn scheme. Instead of discrimatg and fuelg tolerance, parliament should redouble efforts to protect the basic human rights of everyone Hungary, cludg people who are lbian, gay, bisexual, or transgenr.

EU untri roundly nmned a wch hunt agast gay people the Rsian republic of Chechnya earlier this year, but only a few ernments are willg to help those fleeg persecutn. Acrdg to the Rsian LGBT Network, an NGO that has been hidg over 60 gay Chechens at secret lotns central Rsia, the anisatns briefed almost 20 EU untri on the suatn April. The thors appeal to foreign ernments to offer asylum to the victims of the anti-gay purge and vow to assist those who step forward and seek jtice before the European Court of Human Rights and the Internatnal Crimal Court.

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

Also, Chechnya is now higher on the ternatnal agenda than a very long time, " Loksha said, highlightg that the unlawful tentn facili were not created for the gay men, but rather have been ed for years to hold and torture different Chechen people and to stil fear. "We n't say for certa, but Chechen thori may have cid to go ahead wh this 'purge' so as to nsolidate their base of support the nservative and homophobic Chechen society. Magomed Thayev was killed fightg for the Hostomel Airport a day after his lear claimed that his si had not suffered a sgle loss and none of his troops even had a 'nny nose'Magomed Thayev was a btal warlord A spotic general who thlsly round up and killed LGBT+ people an act that beme known as the “gay purge” has been killed the fightg Ukrae.

WARLORD WHO HELPED OVERSEE CHECHNYA’S BTAL ‘GAY PURGE’ KILLED UKRAE

The general was specifilly implited playg a role the 2021 kidnappg of activists and gay man Ibragim Selimkhanov, who was kidnapped om a Mosw subway statn and bundled to a r and then a plane before he was flown to Grozny, Chechnya’s pal. Yet at a Council of Europe meetg last year the supprsn of gay people Chechnya was scribed as "the sgle most egreg example of vlence agast LGBTI people Europe that has occurred s". Activists display plards ont of the Chancellery Berl on April 30, 2017, durg a monstratn llg on the Rsian print to put an end to the persecutn of gay men Chechnya.

“Wele to Chechnya: Insi the Rsian Republic’s Deadly War on Gays, ” which premiered at the Sundance Ftival January and airs on HBO next week, is one of the most harrowg films I have ever seen. “Image the 21st century, a supposedly secular untry, ” says David Isteev, at the start of this acclaimed documentary, “you have s where people are killed simply bee they are homosexual — where they are maimed, where the fai of the people are urged to kill their children and siblgs.

“Wele to Chechnya” follows Isteev, emergency program ordator for the Rsian LGBT Network, and his fellow activists as they risk their liv tryg to protect gay Chechens om beg targeted both by the thori and their own fai. “We documented a large-sle, vic, anti-gay purge” marked by “torture, enforced disappearanc, and extrajudicial killgs, ” Tanya Loksha, the Rsia program director at Human Rights Watch, told me a phone terview om Mosw. For David France, the award-wng director of “Wele to Chechnya, ” mak no sense to talk of a “first” or a “send” purge, as is all part of a sgle ongog mpaign of persecutn agast gay Chechens.