'No Choice but to Lie or Die': Gay Men Facg Death Flee Rsia's Chechnya

Contents:

• 2 GAY MEN WHO FLED CHECHNYA WERE ABDUCTED AND FORCIBLY SENT BACK
• CHECHNYA’S HORRIFIC ‘GAY PURGE’: A 4-YEAR TIMELE OF ABDUCTN, TORTURE AND MURR
• ACTIVISTS SAY THEY ARE HELPG PEOPLE FLEE NEW ANTI-GAY PURGE CHECHNYA
• THE GAY MEN WHO FLED CHECHNYA’S PURGE
• CANADA QUIETLY GIV ASYLUM TO GAY PEOPLE FLEEG PERSECUTN RSIA
• ‘THEY STARVE YOU. THEY SHOCK YOU’: INSI THE ANTI-GAY POGROM CHECHNYA
• ONLY FIVE UNTRI ARE HELPG GAY CHECHENS LEAVE RSIA
• GAY CHECHENS FLEE THREATS, BEATGS AND EXORCISM
• PLEAS FOR HELP FROM GAY MEN CHECHNYA ON RISE, RSIAN GROUP SAYS
• CHECHNYA OPENS TERROR QUIRY TO GAY MEN FORCIBLY RETURNED OM MOSW
• LGBT ACTIVISTS FILE CRIMAL PLAT OVER ALLEGED GAY TENTNS CHECHNYA
• RSIAN OFFICIAL WARNS CANADA OF CONSEQUENC FOR HELPG GAY MEN FLEEG PERSECUTN CHECHNYA
• RSIAN LGBT NETWORK STEPS UP EFFORTS TO GET GAY MEN OUT OF CHECHNYA
• 'NO CHOICE BUT TO LIE OR DIE': GAY MEN FACG ATH FLEE RSIA'S CHECHNYA
• HOW CANADA HAS BEEN SECRETLY GIVG ASYLUM TO GAY PEOPLE CHECHNYA FLEEG PERSECUTN
• GAY MEN FLEE CHECHNYA AFTER STRONGMAN RAMZAN KADYROV'S REGIME BEGS PERSECUTN OF SEXUAL MORI

2 GAY MEN WHO FLED CHECHNYA WERE ABDUCTED AND FORCIBLY SENT BACK

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

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.

ACTIVISTS SAY THEY ARE HELPG PEOPLE FLEE NEW ANTI-GAY PURGE 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. 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).

THE GAY MEN WHO FLED CHECHNYA’S PURGE

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.

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. Petersburg-based rights group, said last week that 40 people had been taed and at least two were tortured to ath what they believe is a renewal of a mpaign of terror that took place 2017, and saw dozens of gay men kidnapped and tortured by Chechen secury servic. "They spl my eye, my lip, broke my ribs, they electrocuted me, " he told ABC News April, a gay man who spoke to the Associated Prs on ndn that he not be further intified out of fear for his safety and that of his fay om Chechnya, the predomantly Mlim regn southern Rsia, April 28, 2017.

CANADA QUIETLY GIV ASYLUM TO GAY PEOPLE FLEEG PERSECUTN RSIA

The anti-gay mpaigns the republic have emerged agast a backdrop of broar efforts Rsia to stoke homophobic sentiment, as the Kreml has promoted what lls tradnal valu and pated homosexualy as a primarily Wtern phenomenon, lked to mocracy and human rights.

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

There is no blueprt for beg gay Chechnya—most of the men I terviewed talked about tim when they were nvced that there were no other gay men their land—and the prsure to marry and have children is immense. Staffers set up a hotle for reportg attacks and on two ocsns anized what they ll “evacuatns, ” which they help people threatened by anti-gay vlence to move to larger, and theoretilly safer, ci Rsia. Sign up to our Eveng Headl email for your daily gui to the latt newsSign up to our ee US Eveng Headl emailThe feral ernment of Canada has been secretly helpg gay Chechen men flee persecutn an unr-the-radar arrangement has been troduced unr the guidance of Chrystia Freeland, Canada’s foreign affairs Freeland “wanted to be able to save a few dividuals”, acrdg to a ernment source.

Other people fleeg Rsia’s harsh anti-gay discrimatn are expected to touch down Canada over the next few asylum al do not fall unr the nventns of ternatnal law, but the North Amerin untry is rryg on spe this. Prime Mister Jt T spoke out on Internatnal Day Agast Homophobia, Transphobia and said: “In Canada and around the world, we mt ntue to fight agast homophobia, transphobia and biphobia, and to fend genr exprsn, genr inty and sexual orientatn rights. 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.

ONLY FIVE UNTRI ARE HELPG GAY CHECHENS LEAVE RSIA

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.

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.

GAY CHECHENS FLEE THREATS, BEATGS AND EXORCISM

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 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.

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

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. But thgs got much worse early 2017, when the lear of the republic, Ramzan Kadyrov, a strongman wh close ti to Rsian Print Vladimir Put, began a vlent purge of anyone spected of beg gay or transgenr.

Internatnal dimensnImage source, AFPImage ptn, Gay rights activists protted outsi the Rsian embassy London last summerIt is hard to fd out how many Chechens like Marko have been granted refuge outsi Rsia, as many immigratn servic do not register the sexual orientatn of asylum seekers. Belgium has given five gay Chechen men humanarian visas so that they n fly to Belgium om Mosw, Belgian media reported on more than two dozen gay and bisexual men and women om Chechnya have been granted asylum week Igor Kochetkov, head of the Rsian LGBT Network, told Novaya Gazeta that over the past year his chary had assisted 114 people om Chechnya who said they had been persecuted bee of their sexual source, AFPImage ptn, Chechen lear Ramzan Kadyrov (R) is a firm ally of Rsian Print Vladimir PutRlan is torn between his feelgs for his boyiend and love of his own fay.

CHECHNYA OPENS TERROR QUIRY TO GAY MEN FORCIBLY RETURNED OM MOSW

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.

Chechnya has opened a terrorism vtigatn to two gay men who fled the regn last year but were arrted near Mosw last week and forcibly rights group that helped the men pe Chechnya, an tonomo Rsian republic where the torture, tentns and killgs of gay men have been reported sce 2017, said they weren’t certa why exactly the men were beg persecuted but that one of them had earlier been terrogated for sharg LGBTQ emojis an onle Magamadov and Ismail Isayev, aged 20 and 17, were the cy of Nizhny Novgorod, east of Mosw, when they were abducted last Thursday, acrdg to the Rsian LGBT of the men rang the work’s emergency hotle the afternoon, and a worker for the anisatn heard screamg the background of the ll.

LGBT ACTIVISTS FILE CRIMAL PLAT OVER ALLEGED GAY TENTNS CHECHNYA

” In another, Isayev asks for fivens for behavg an “unmanly” Rsian LGBT Network has helped 200 people flee Chechnya, eher abroad or to other areas of the untry, sce the outbreak of “gay purg” the republic four years ago rponse to what Chechen thori saw as the creased visibily of the Rsian gay rights movement. Mosw -- LGBT activists say they filed a plat mandg Rsian thori open a crimal vtigatn to the alleged tentn and torture of people as part of a spected anti-gay mpaign by secury forc the Rsian republic of LGBT Network, a St. Petersburg-based group, said a statement submted the plat to the Invtigative Commtee, Rsia's rough equivalent of the FBI, on Tuday, askg to probe the alleged tentn of at least 14 people, as well as torture and at least one move is an attempt by the group to pel Rsian thori to act on reports of a new wave of tentns and torture targetg the gay muny Chechnya, a predomantly Mlim regn southern Rsian led by dictatorial lear Ramzan Kadyrov.

Earlier this month, the LGBT Network claimed at least 40 people were taed and two killed what they fear is a renewal of a mpaign of persecutn Chechnya that 2017 saw dozens of gay men round up and btally 2017, Chechen thori nied the reports, largely by assertg that homosexualy do not exist Kochetkov, the LGBT Network's director, told ABC News that the 14 s the plat acunted for jt those people reportedly held one police statn Chechnya’s pal, Grozny, and that they had rmatn that others were beg held elsewhere across the untry. Rsian policemen surround Rsian gay-rights activists standg next to box allegedly ntag signed petns llg for a probe to a reported crackdown on Chechnya's LGBT muny, durg a rally central Mosw on May 11, Imag, FILE"We believe several dozen people are taed, no lower than 40, " Kochetkov said by LGBT Network helped dozens of gay men flee Chechnya 2017, wh many eventually fdg asylum abroad.

RSIAN OFFICIAL WARNS CANADA OF CONSEQUENC FOR HELPG GAY MEN FLEEG PERSECUTN CHECHNYA

This week news emerged that Canada has quietly granted asylum to 31 gay and bisexual men fleeg persecutn om the southern Rsian republic of Chechnya, where reports of tentn, torture and executns have ma ternatnal headl recent months.

RSIAN LGBT NETWORK STEPS UP EFFORTS TO GET GAY MEN OUT OF CHECHNYA

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 emailsChechyan LGBT activists are urgg ernments to help gay men fleeg Rsia fearg persecutn bee of their sexual inty.

Five untri are talks wh the Rsia Lbian Gay Bisexual and Transgenr Network, which has reported a wave of kidnappgs, torture and disappearanc Chechnya, a semi-tonomo regn southern Rsia that borrs Geia. ” The Internatnal Crimal Court has also received a plat om three gay rights groups France who claim Chechyan polici amount to a genoci agast gay of the Chechen Republic Ramzan Kadyrov has nied any crackdown on gay people by sayg that his provce don’t have “non-tradnal sexual orientatn”.

'NO CHOICE BUT TO LIE OR DIE': GAY MEN FACG ATH FLEE RSIA'S CHECHNYA

So far, the Kreml has turned a bld eye to this, though German Chancellor Angela Merkel last week urged Vladimir Put to is an NGO that has been workg to get gay men who've been targeted out of Chechnya. "In Chechnya, I had no choice but to lie or die, " says the is now hidg out a small hoe on the edge of Mosw wh five other Chechen men after they ped what they say is a btal mpaign agast gay men by thori the Mlim regn of Rsia's North Cs. "While sual homophobia is mon Rsia, the problem is particularly acute nservative Chechnya, where homosexualy is taboo and seen many fai as a moral failg that should be punished by late March, the Novaya Gazeta liberal newspaper -- known for cril reports on Ramzan Kadyrov, Chechnya's iron-fisted ler for the last -- published a shockg report that gay men had been round newspaper reported that the thori had taed more than 100 gay men and urged their fai to kill them to "wash clean their honour.

The route kidnappg and btal torture of gay men and women the republic has been heavily documented by rights groups and journalists, sce a so-lled "gay purge" 2017 ma global headl, when dozens of men were round up and tortured at police bas. Brish gay rights activist Peter Tatchell stag an anti-Put prott agast the mistreatment of LGBT people Rsia ont of a monument to Soviet Marshal Gey Zhov on Manezhnaya Square Mosw on June 14, Zmeyev/AFP via Getty Imag, FILEAn ABC News Nightle documentary 2019 documented the s of several gay men who were taken by police and tortured, beaten wh rods and electrocuted. For three months, the feral ernment has been secretly spirg gay Chechen men om Rsia to Canada, unr a clanste program unique the evacuatns, spearhead by Foreign Affairs Mister Chrystia Freeland, fall outsi the nventns of ternatnal law and uld further impair already tense relatns between Rsia and Canada.

HOW CANADA HAS BEEN SECRETLY GIVG ASYLUM TO GAY PEOPLE CHECHNYA FLEEG PERSECUTN

Homosexuals many parts of the world are harassed, imprisoned, even – as happened recently Indonia – publicly the ernment is stgglg to acmodate thoands of mostly Haian asylum-seekers floodg to Canada om the Uned Stat, even as opposn policians mand that Ottawa fd a way to plug the loophole that lets them the Liberals cid the suatn was unique: Chechen secury forc were roundg up gay men a program, placg them need of immediate program has been a closely held secret wh the ernment for months. Background: the purgeChechnya, a republic (roughly equivalent to a provce) wh the Rsian Feratn, is n by a strongman, Ramzan Kadyrov, who has been given virtually untrammelled powers by Mosw exchange for supprsg surgency the rtive is a eply nservative Mlim society which homosexualy is reviled. Put, meanwhile, the rights of LGBT people Rsia have steadily erod, particularly sce 2012, when the ernment passed a law banng gay "propaganda, " a move that recently drew nmnatn om the European urt of human April, the Rsian newspaper Novaya Gazeta reported that Chechen thori had lnched a pogrom agast gay men.

The reports were penntly nfirmed by the Rsian LGBT Network, an NGO that advot for sexual mori Rsia, and by Human Rights on terviews wh tae and journalists, the NGOs nclud that, Febary and March, Chechen thori had begun roundg up spected homosexuals, who were taken to tentn centr, terrogated and tortured.

"When news of the tentns and torture beme public, a spokman for the Chechen ernment sisted there was no pogrom unr way bee there were no homosexuals Chechnya, and if there were, "their relativ would send them somewhere om which there is no returng. By April, word arrived om the regn that the purge had been lifted, though Human Rights Watch reported that homosexuals Chechnya were still beg harassed and persecuted, and thori were prsurg fay members to lote and turn over those who had fled.

GAY MEN FLEE CHECHNYA AFTER STRONGMAN RAMZAN KADYROV'S REGIME BEGS PERSECUTN OF SEXUAL MORI

However, although NGOs plead wh other ernments to take persecuted gay Chechens, homosexual acts are not illegal Rsia; therefore, refugee claims based on fear of persecutn due to sexualy were problematic. An untermed number of dividuals have travelled to European Unn untri on tourist visas, and then applied for refugee Canada is the only untry to have adopted an anized, methodil program for takg as many gay Chechens fleeg persecutn as were qualified and willg to T ernment has ma LGBT rights a prry, appotg Edmonton MP Randy Boissonnlt as special adviser on LGBT issu.

A new, and unexpected, lifeNow that the prence of gay Chechen refuge Canada is no longer a secret, they will be able to accs more easily the support servic they need to tegrate succsfully to Canadian first prry, says Mr.