CoE’s Human Rights Commissioner favours granting asylum to gays from Chechnya

On April 26, when presenting his report for 2016 as part of the session of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE), Nils Muižnieks, the Council of Europe Commissioner for Human Rights, emphasized that the countries of the Council of Europe (CE) should stand up for the protection of members of LGBT community representatives.

The "Caucasian Knot" has informed that on April 1, the newspaper "Novaya Gazeta" reported about mass detentions in Chechnya of men suspected of unconventional sexual orientation. Later, the newspaper "Novaya Gazeta" reported with reference to gays persecuted in Chechnya that in Argun, a "secret prison" had been arranged for people with unconventional sexual orientation. According to the "Radio Liberty", another similar prison, where members of sexual minorities are beaten and humiliated, is located in the Chechen village of Tsotsi-Yurt.

"Today, in Europe, it is not popular to take refugees. However, those people need protection and security, while in Chechnya, their security is under threat," stated the CE's Commissioner for Human Rights.

Nils Muižnieks has noted that he has received reports from Chechnya about torture and deaths of members of the LGBT community "from sources that are trustworthy," and therefore he treats the information with the utmost attention. The CE's Commissioner for Human Rights has also said that he learned about harassment of members of the LGBT community from Russian journalists and human rights defenders whom he met.

Full text of the article is available on the Russian page of 24/7 Internet agency ‘Caucasian Knot’.