Chechnya Assault On Gay Men

LGBTQ people in Chechnya are in extreme danger & the international community must act immediately. On April 1st Novaya Gazeta reported that more than 100 gay men have been arbitrarily detained & at least three have been murdered by Chechen authorities for their alleged “non traditional” sexual orientation. Independent sources have confirmed the mass detention, described acts of torture & suggested that the number of men killed may be as many as 20. In response to the crisis the Russian LGBT Network is currently evacuating people from Chechnya who may be at risk for kidnapping, arrest or otherwise in harm’s way. Jessica Stern, Executive Director of OutRight Action International stated, “The perpetrators of this malicious campaign must be held accountable for the systematic detention, torture & killings of innocent men in Chechnya. No government should get away with such wanton human rights violations. Using a violent attack on men accused of being gay to legitimize islamophobia is dangerous & misleading. It negates the experiences of queer Muslims & essentializes all Muslims as homophobic. We cannot permit this tragedy to be co-opted by ethno-nationalists to perpetuate anti-Muslim or anti-Russian sentiment. The people & their government are never the same.” A spokesman for Chechnya’s leader, Ramzan Kadyrov, denied the allegations stating, “You cannot arrest or repress people who just don’t exist in the republic. If such people existed in Chechnya, law enforcement would not have to worry about them, as their own relatives would have sent them to where they could never return.”
For More Info: lgbtnet.org
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