LGBT activists have been round up by Russian police after they demonstrated against the persecution of gay and bisexual men Chechnya.
Around 10 gay-rights activists demonstrated in St. Petersburg, Russia’s second-largest city, in solidarity with the gay men who have been detained, tortured and killed in the Russian republic of Chechnya. Police officers, dressed in riot gear, arrested the activists and dragged them to waiting police vans.
Images circulated on Twitter showed a number of protesters lying on the ground with fake blood smeared on their faces and their bodies draped with the rainbow and Chechnya flags.
Since the 1st April, horrific reports have been reported about the rounding up, torture and the alleged killing of at least four men suspected of being gay. They are apparently being held in around six camps. A number of men have been let go.
To read the full timeline on the plight of gay men in Chechnya click here
The world was alerted to a horrifying assault on gay men in Chechnya in April 2017. This is how the story unfolded.
The story of the abduction, torture and killing of gay men in Chechnya, was reported thanks to the fearless investigations by Russian News outlet Novaya Gazeta. A journalist by the name of Elena Milashina broke the story that 100 men, suspected of being gay had been “rounded up”. The initial article, which was called, “Honor Killings”, suggested that some had been tortured and at least three had been killed.
The genesis
9th March
According to Milashina, the systematic roundup of gay men (or those suspected of being gay) began after an LGBT rights group in Russia, GayRussia, sought permission to run LGBT prides across the country. Permission was denied on the basis that the parades would go against Russia’s anti-LGBT law, which bans the “propaganda of nontraditional sexual relations” to anyone under the age of 18.
The justification for seeking official approval for Pride has been reported as a strategy to collate evidence for a case against Russia in the European Court of Human Rights.
The roundup
1st April
On and before April the 1st, men were rounded up, it was coined a ‘prophylactic sweep’ in Chechnya. At first, the region’s officials denied that any such roundup and detention was “lies and misinformation”. A spokesman for the leader of Chechnya, said to the Interfax news agency,
“You cannot detain and persecute people who simply do not exist in the republic,
“If there were such people in Chechnya, the law-enforcement organs wouldn’t need to have anything to do with them because their relatives would send them somewhere from which there is no returning.”
It was even suggested that the story was an April Fool’s joke.
It was reported that officials rounding up suspected gay men were using their victim’s mobile phones to trace and catch other men. Their phones were reportedly monitored for contact information. One man spoke about how a gay friend called him suggesting a meeting. The call was calm and didn’t arouse any suspicion. When he arrived it became clear that the call had been a setup. Six people were in waiting.
Mass Meeting
3rd April
A mass, televised meeting in Grozny, the capital of Chechnya, showed over 15,000 people gather to protest the article in Novaya Gazeta. In a speech to the crowd, an advisor to Kadyrov called the newspaper “enemies of our faith and of our motherland.” The crowd, according to Human Right’s Watch, “adopted a resolution threatened retribution against the journalist”.
Concentration Camps
10th April
As news grew of the mass detention of these, news-outlets across the UK started to label the detention centres as “concentration camps”. Horrific details of abuse began to surface. Information about the abuse was coming in through second-hand and third sources because of the extreme taboo nature of being homosexual in Chechnya.
Ekaterina Sokirianskaia, Russia project director for the International Crisis Group, told the Guardian, “I have heard about it happening in Grozny [the Chechen capital], outside Grozny, and among people of very different ages and professions.”
Details have emerged of the conditions that those detained have faced. Reports of beatings, electrocution and placing the men into humiliating positions have all been revealed.
Protests
11th April
In the UK, the news was finally becoming mainstream. On the 11th April, it was announced that a protest would take place near to the Russian Embassy in London. The protest was backed by Pride In London. Around the UK, several other protests have taken place to show solidarity.
Muslim Charity Imaan LGBTQ reacts
11th April
Imaan LGBTQ strongly condemned the actions of officials in Chechnya on the 11th April. Taking to Twitter the group said that they, “condemn the reported actions of the Chechen authorities against its LGBT population”.
The group then called upon fellow Muslims everywhere to do the same.
“The detention and ill-treatment of over 100 gay men in Chechnya is extremely concerning. Reports have also suggested that at least three of these men have been killed. The statement by the regional Government, implying that such treatment towards LGBT people is acceptable, is particularly abhorrent. We condemn any and all persecution, and call on the authorities to promptly investigate and ensure that perpetrators of human rights abuses are brought to justice.
“The human rights situation for LGBT people in Russia has deteriorated significantly in recent years and we continue to voice our serious concern with Russian authorities at all levels. Russia’s international human rights obligations require them to protect citizens who may be at risk of persecution.
“We expect the Russian government to fulfill its obligations to this end, and to uphold the rule of law.’
Electrocution
13th April
News of the devastating abuse that some had experienced inside the camp started to be published. According to the Guardian, and one man they managed to interview about his treatment, it emerged that they were being beaten with wooden sticks, metal poles. The verbal abuse for being gay was endless. Some had metal clamps attached to their bodies and were given electric shocks.
Journalists fear for their lives
14th April
During an interview on the Victoria Derbyshire show on the BBC, it was revealed that the journalist who broke the story was in hiding and the management team of Novaya Gazeta feared for the safety of their staff.
Elena Milashina said that a ‘jihad’ had been declared on her and the staff at her outlet after 15,000 people met in the biggest mosque in Chechnya and denounced the paper and journalists who published the original story.
Milashina said,
“They reacted [to the story] in a terrifying manner… on April 3, in the biggest mosque in Grozny, 15,000 religious and various types of people came together and announced a Jihad on us… not just me personally, but all journalists at Novaya Gazeta.
“They said the people at the newspaper who raised this question have damaged the honour of Chechen nation and should be prosecuted.”
There is a precedent for their fears. In 2006 a journalist for Novaya Gazeta, Anna Politkovskaya was shot dead in her home. Another, Natlaya Estemirova was murdered in 2009.
The President of Chechnya has vowed to eliminate the LGBT community, by the end of May.
Following the horrific details of gay men being detained, tortured and even killed, in the region, the head of Chechnya, Ramzan Kadyrov has said that he wants to eliminate gay men by the start of Ramadan. Up to a hundred men, suspected of being gay are being held, against their wills in what some media outlets have called “concentration camps”.
Ramadan is a holy month in the Islamic faith and begins on the 26th May. Chechnya is a Muslim-majority country.
Speaking in Parliament, Sir Alan Duncan, Minister of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, said,
“Human rights groups report that these anti-gay campaigns and killings are orchestrated by the head of the Chechen republic, Ramzan Kadyrov.
“He has carried out other violent campaigns in the past, and this time he is directing his efforts at the LGBT community.
“Sources have said that he wants the community eliminated by the start of Ramadan.”
The minister added, “Such comments, attitudes and actions are absolutely beyond contemptible.”
Ramzan Kadyrov allegedly made the threats on Russian media.
Sir Alan, continued,
“Credible reports suggesting that at least four people have been killed and many have been tortured are particularly shocking,
‘”Statements by the regional government in Chechnya which appear to condone and incite violence against LGBT people are utterly despicable.”
FEARING FOR LIFE
Last week, the journalist who broke the news about Chechyna’s purge on gay men revealed she was in hiding after the news reverberates across the globe. Speaking on the Victoria Derbyshire show, Novaya Gazeta journalist Elena Milashina said that a “jihad” had been declared on her and the staff at her outlet after 15,000 people met in the biggest mosque in Chechnya and denounced the paper and journalists who published the original story.
Speaking on the Victoria Derbyshire show, Novaya Gazeta journalist Elena Milashina said that a jihad had been declared on her and the staff at her outlet after 15,000 people met in the biggest mosque in Chechnya and denounced the paper and journalists who published the original story.
She said,
“They reacted [to the story] in a terrifying manner… on April 3, in the biggest mosque in Grozny, 15,000 religious and various types of people came together and announced a Jihad on us… not just me personally, but all journalists at Novaya Gazeta.
“They said the people at the newspaper who raised this question have damaged the honour of Chechen nation and should be prosecuted.”
A spokesperson for Chechnya’s leader Ramzan Kadyrov, said, that the report was “lies and disinformation” and claimed that gay people did not “exist in the republic”. The report was even dismissed as a sick April Fool’s joke, by the region’s interior ministry.
UKIP’s leader Paul Nuttall has strongly condemned the persecution of gay men in Chechnya.
Paul Nuttall, the UKIP leader has today strongly condemned the actions of Chechen authorities and the Chechen leader, Ramzan Kadyrov, after over a hundred gay men were round up, detained and tortured in what some media outlets termed, “concentration camps”.
Paul Nuttall said,
“If these reports are true, and it looks like they are, then the Government must protest in the strongest manner.
“Just because the warlord of this Islamic fiefdom is an ally of Putin should not blind us to the horrific abuse of human rights being perpetrated.
“Putin claims to oppose Isis and its blend of fundamentalism in Syria but seems to be impervious to decency. He has the power to stop this inhumanity. The Government should demand that he does.”
The UK’s Foreign office has called on Russia to investigate the mass detention of gay men in Chechnya.
Baroness Anelay is “concerned” over reports of 100 men abducted and held against their will.
Government condemns any and all persecution UK.
Reminds Russia of its international human rights obligations which require them to protect citizens.
As information continues to circulate about the mass rounding up and detaining of gay men in Chechnya, Baroness Anelay has released a statement calling on Russia to investigate the claims.
Baroness Anelay said:
“The detention and ill-treatment of over 100 gay men in Chechnya is extremely concerning. Reports have also suggested that at least three of these men have been killed. The statement by the regional Government, implying that such treatment towards LGBT people is acceptable, is particularly abhorrent. We condemn any and all persecution, and call on the authorities to promptly investigate and ensure that perpetrators of human rights abuses are brought to justice.
“The human rights situation for LGBT people in Russia has deteriorated significantly in recent years and we continue to voice our serious concern with Russian authorities at all levels. Russia’s international human rights obligations require them to protect citizens who may be at risk of persecution. We expect the Russian government to fulfill its obligations to this end, and to uphold the rule of law.”
Today a protest has been organised outside the Russian Embassy to show solidarity with men being held in what some media outlets have called “concentration camps” in Chechnya.
Up to a hundred men, suspected of being gay are being held, against their wills. There have been reports of torture and three killings.
Britain’s leading LGBT charity for Muslims has condemned the reported actions of Chechen officials rounding up gay men and placing them into “concentration camps”.
Imaan LGBTQ has strongly condemned the actions of officials in Chechnya after it was revealed that 100 men suspected of being gay were rounded up, tortured and placed in camps in the Muslim-majority Republic.
Taking to Twitter the group said that they, “condemn the reported actions of the Chechen authorities against its LGBT population”.
The group then called upon fellow Muslims everywhere to do the same.
Some are linking the recent alleged actions undertaken by government officials with having a religious undertone.
According to Wikipedia,
“Chechnya under Moscow-backed authoritarian rule of Ramzan Kadyrov has undergone its own controversial counter-campaign of Islamization of the republic, with the local government actively promoting and enforcing their own version of a so-called “traditional Islam”, including introducing elements of Sharia that replaced Russian official laws”.
As of the 2010 Census, Muslim Chechens, at 1,206,551 people make up 95.3% of the republic’s population.
Tim Farron has commented on the detention and torture of gay men in Chechnya.
Commenting on reports that Chechnya has opened concentration camps for gay men, Liberal Democrat leader Tim Farron said:
“These reports from Chechnya are truly horrifying, and represent an extreme manifestation of increasing homophobic brutality and intolerance in Putin’s Russia.
“The UK government must strongly condemn this disgusting violence, and use every possibly opportunity to raise this with the Russian government, as well as in the UN and other international bodies.
“The UK must work with those who share our values to stop the mindless targeting of the LGBT community, which is still prevalent in too many countries across the world. Only through defending universal human rights will we ever hope to achieve a world in which every person can live, work and flourish without discrimination.
“It is disappointing that Boris Johnson has failed to stand up for these people by not visiting Russia after Trump told him to stay at home.”
“The world’s media are reporting that gay men (and presumably other members of the LBT+ community) are being arbitrarily detained and killed in Chechnya. Other reports say that a ‘concentration camp’ has been established in the Chechen town of Argun.
“London fails if it does not challenge this inhumanity. We MUST stand up to this. Bring banners, flags and most importantly bring yourselves to challenge this oppression and show solidarity with LGBT+ people in Russia.
“It will be a PEACEFUL and LEGAL protest. The Metropolitan Police have been informed and we will work with them in coming hours to ensure a safe event.”
This aggression against gay men reportedly began after an LGBT organisation applied for the rights to march in the capital of Grozny.
The protest will take place near the Russian Embassy on the junction of Bayswater Road and Ossington Street. Met officers will be there for public safety. 5:30 PM. Find out more here.
Disturbing reports are emerging that Chechnya officials have opened a “concentration camp” for gay people after 100 men were allegedly rounded up last week.
Gay men who were rounded up in Chechnya last week are reportedly being kept, locked up in a “camp”, separated from their families, homes and friends. There have been reports of murders and torture.
According to a Russian newspaper, Novaya Gazeta, last week, men, suspected of being gay, disappeared overnight in the Muslim-majority Russian Republic of Chechnya.
Now, new reports are suggesting that the men who were captured are being held in “concentration camps”, the first in Europe since the second world war.
This aggression against gay men reportedly began after an LGBT organisation applied for the rights to march in the capital of Grozny.
The Republic is known for being very conservative and has a Sunni Muslim majority population. LGBT people who come out are often shunned by their families. Chechnya is formally part of Russia, but functions ostensibly, as an independent state, taking many of Russia’s laws as its own, including Russia’s anti-gay propaganda law, which it passed in 2013.
“No national and/or religious traditions and norms can justify kidnapping or killing of a human being. Any references to ‘traditions’ to justify kidnappings and killings are amoral and criminal”.
They added,
“The Russian LGBT Network is ready to evacuate people”.
Svetlana Zakharova, from the Russian LGBT Network, told MailOnline:
“Gay people have been detained and rounded up and we are working to evacuate people from the camps and some have now left the region.”
More than 100 men, suspected of being gay, have been allegedly rounded up and subjected to torture in Chechnya.
According to a Russian newspaper, Novaya Gazeta, dozens of men, suspected of being gay, have disappeared in the Muslim-majority Russian Republic of Chechnya. Three have reportedly been murdered.
The Republic is known for being very conservative and has a Sunni Muslim majority population. LGBT people who come out are often shunned by their families. Chechnya is formally part of Russia, but functions ostensibly, as an independent state, taking many of Russia’s laws as its own, including Russia’s anti-gay propaganda law, which it passed in 2013.
Amongst the missing are two television reporters and at least one religious leader.
The men had been detained in “connection with their nontraditional sexual orientation, or suspicion of such,” Novaya Gazeta reported.
According to The Independent Tatyana Lokshina of the Human Rights Watch in Moscow said,
“It’s a vicious attack against LGBT people. It’s happened for several weeks under order of leadership,”
She revealed that many of the men had been tortured and humiliated. She said that there had been reports that three had been killed.
