Two killed, 40 detained in new wave of gay purges in Chechnya

A new wave of anti-gay purges has seized Chechnya, with two reportedly killed, 40 detained amid “spine-chilling” reports of torture.

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.

A Gay Pride event in St. Petersburg. While homosexuality is not illegal in Russia, state sanctioned abuse of gays was reported in 2017 and this month in Chechnya. Picture: Getty

Amnesty International Australia has called on Senator Mathias Cormann to demand Chechnya end the crackdown at the World Economic Forum in Davos this week.

“Police are demanding that families kill their gay and lesbian relatives and provide evidence of their murder as part of the horrific and homophobic Chechen crackdown on the LGBTQI community,” said Tim O’Connor, Manager Campaigns at Amnesty International Australia.

“The crackdown is worsening. We know that more than forty people have been detained and two killed since December, and this new development, combined with the fact people’s passports are being destroyed, makes Chechnya a very dangerous place to be if you are member of the LGBTQI community.

“World leaders will be in the one room at the World Economic Forum in Davos this week - Senator Cormann must represent Australia’s shock, sadness and desire for this to end. He needs to call on Chechnya to end the crackdown, and call-out Putin’s willful ignorance to the situation which is giving Chechnya the green-light to continue.

“Minister Cormann will be a respected and loud voice on many issues next week in Davos. He must use this moment when the world is listening to condemn the Chechen authorities, call for the immediate release of those detained, and call on Russian authorities to bring those responsible to justice.

“A high-level Russian delegation, and possibly President Putin himself, will be in Davos - they need to feel the pressure of the world’s condemnation, and the guilt of governing over the torture and murder of these Chechens, and to be forced to act.”

The human rights organisation will also be marching alongside the 78ers in Sydney tomorrow to further publicise the issue.

BRUTAL CRACKDOWN ON LGBT COMMUNITY

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”.

Anzor, a gay man, spoke to the Associated Press about the gay purges on condition that he not be further identified out of fear for his safety. Picture: AP Photo

“We are horrified by reports that at least two people have died from torture-inflicted injuries,” Marie Struthers, Amnesty International’s director for Eastern Europe and Central Asia, said in a statement.

“With lives in jeopardy, there is an urgent need for an international response to protect gay and lesbian people in Chechnya,” Ms Struthers added.

She described the reports as “spine-chilling”.

Russian authorities opened an inquiry after the reports of the persecution of gay men in Chechnya in 2017. No such inquiry has been opened about this month’s reports.

LGBT activists in 2017 helped to evacuate around 150 gay men from Chechnya to help them restart their lives elsewhere in Russia. Many of them have sought asylum and resettled abroad.

Russian authorities have strenuously denied that killings and torture took place in the predominantly Muslim region where homosexuality is taboo, even after one man came forward to talk about the time he spent in detention in Chechnya.

Chechnya is a majority Muslim republic. Picture: AFP

Ramzan Kadyrov is the leader of Chechnya. Picture: AP Photo

Maxim Lapunov said he was detained by unidentified people on a street in the Chechen capital, Grozny, in 2017 and kept in custody for two weeks, where he was repeatedly beaten. He was let go after he signed a statement acknowledging that he was gay and was told he would be killed if he talked about his time in detention.

Mr Lapunov, who is not an ethnic Chechen and is from Siberia, was the first to file a complaint with Russian authorities over the wave of arrests of gay people.

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.