"Russian LGBT Network" demands to investigate killings and torture in Chechnya

23 residents of Chechnya confirmed the information about a new wave of detentions and torture of homosexuals, the "Russian LGBT Network" reports today. The NGO's head filed a complaint to the Investigating Committee of the Russian Federation (ICRF) with a request to investigate those cases, as well as information about the murder, related to sexual orientation of a victim.

The "Caucasian Knot" has reported that on January 11, the "Novaya Gazeta" reported on another wave of persecution of gays in the Chechen Republic. According to the Russian LGBT Network, since the end of December 2018, about 40 people were detained in Chechnya for their supposed or actual non-traditional sexual orientation; two persons were killed.

Igor Kochetkov, the programme director of the "Russian LGBT Network", filed a complaint to the ICRF in which he wrote that the "Russian LGBT Network" had received reports about "illegal long-term detentions and torture," including of 14 people in Grozny. According to the complaint filed by Igor Kochetkov, all those people were detained in the period from December 6 to January 22, 2018, on suspicion of homosexuality, the press service of the "Russian LGBT Network" reports today.

According to the NGO, the above mentioned people were kept in buildings of a law enforcement unit. "The detainees were subjected to beatings, sexual abuses, and torture with electric current. The detainees were also forced to sign blank forms of confessions," states the press release of the "Russian LGBT Network" sent to the "Caucasian Knot" today.

The NGO also reported on sending to the ICRF personal data of a Russian citizen who was killed by law enforcers "in the period from January 1 to 20."

Starting from late December 2018, 23 people appealed to the "Russian LGBT Network", and they confirmed the information about a new wave of persecution of LGBT people in Chechnya, the NGO's press release states.

This article was originally published on the Russian page of 24/7 Internet agency ‘Caucasian Knot’ on January 29, 2019 at 03:40 pm MSK. To access the full text of the article, click here.