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A RUSSIAN LGBT rights group has reported a new wave of persecution against gay people in Chechnya, in which it says around 40 people have been arrested and two killed.
Chechen authorities immediately denied the claims which come two years after an international outcry when gay men said they had been tortured by law-enforcement agencies in the majority-Muslim Russian republic.
“Since the end of December 2018, there has been a new wave of detentions of men and women in Chechnya, related to their presumed or real sexual orientation,” the Russian LGBT Network said in a statement.
“According to the network’s information, about 40 people have been detained… and at least two people have been killed,” it said.
Igor Kochetkov of the LGBT Network said police were confiscating documents to ensure those arrested in the crackdown could not flee the republic, as others have done previously.
Those arrested “are threatened with fabricated criminal cases against them or their relatives, they are forced to sign blank forms,” he said.
A spokesman for Ramzan Kadyrov, who has ruled the republic with Kremlin-backing for more than a decade, rejected the report.
“This is a complete lie… there were no detentions on the grounds of sexual orientation in the Chechen Republic over the period mentioned,” Alvi Karimov told the Interfax news agency.
Amnesty International, however, said the reports were “credible”.
“Many LGBTI people in Russia are still traumatised by the 2017 purge which saw dozens of gay men in Chechnya abducted and tortured and others killed,” Colm O’Gorman, executive director of Amnesty International Ireland, said.
“We are horrified by reports that at least two people have died from torture-inflicted injuries. With lives in jeopardy, there is an urgent need for an international response to protect gay and lesbian people in Chechnya,” he said.
Russian authorities opened an inquiry after the reports of the persecution of gay men in Chechnya in 2017.
But the LGBT Network said no meaningful investigation had been carried out.
“The fact that there has still not been any justice for the 2017 attacks shows that gay and lesbian people in Chechnya cannot rely on the Russian authorities to protect them,” O’Gorman said.
“We are calling for the international community to take immediate action to protect gay and lesbian people in Chechnya, and to increase the pressure on the Russian authorities to properly investigate these horrendous crimes.”
Homosexuality is legal in Russia but discrimination is rife.
A controversial “gay propaganda” law brought in by Russia in 2013 officially forbids the promotion of “non-traditional sexual relationships” to minors but effectively bans gay rights activism.
© – AFP 2019 with reporting by Hayley Halpin
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And here was me cursing at the rain this morning before I left the house.
I dont know the facts but when says rugby world cup was forced to cancel several games you have to doubt everything else is valid. Can these news agencies not just report the facts. The story is already bad enough without adding to it. (3 games were cancelled)
@Doire: Not meaning to be pedantic. But does “several” not mean more than 2 but not many? Considering that the article is not specifically about the rugby world cup state of play, it’s not an unreasonable statement in an article about a typhoon.
@Paraic: a few i take to mean 3-6, several too mean 7+. My way of thinking is that its the biggest thing happening in the area the typhoon is hitting could we at not at least expect to get basic facts correct.
@Doire: Then your understanding of the word is factually incorrect.
It means “being more than two but fewer than many in number or kind”.
The article did get the basic facts correct.
Another one is at 35, more than “several” people have been killed which is far more important than a lack of understanding of a single word.
@Reuben Gray: and far more important than the cancellation of several games of rugby. Thinking of the Japanese people affected and wishing them a speedy recovery.
@Doire: Clearly your understanding of the English language is limited, as there are several grammatical errors in your comment.
have your say