Mikhail Fedotov agrees with Ramzan Kadyrov on gay rights in Chechnya

The meeting of Mikhail Fedotov, the chairman of the Human Rights Council (HRC) under the President of Russia, with Ramzan Kadyrov has become the first visit of the HRC members to Chechnya after the republic was excluded from a series of travelling sessions in Northern Caucasus in June 2016. The information about harassments of gays in Chechnya was not the reason for the trip, but it was also discussed with the leader of Chechnya, Mikhail Fedotov reports.

The "Caucasian Knot" has reported that on May 10, the exhibition dedicated to the memorial to the victims of political repressions "The Wall of Sorrow" was opened in Grozny. The opening ceremony was attended by Mikhail Fedotov, the chairman of the Human Rights Council under the President of Russia. During his meeting with Ramzan Kadyrov, Mikhail Fedotov raised the topic of the harassment of gays in Chechnya.

Igor Kalyapin, the leader of the human rights organization "Committee for the Prevention of Torture", has reported on the agreement with Mikhail Fedotov stating that the members of the Presidential Human Rights Council will not travel to Chechnya "at the official level."

Igor Kalyapin has also mentioned that in the summer of 2016, the visit of the HRC members to Chechnya was disrupted when the Chechen authorities informed the HRC members that they were not able to guarantee the Igor Kalyapin's security in the republic.

According to Igor Kalyapin, during his visit to Chechnya, Mikhail Fedotov has pointed to the need to establish a dialogue between the HRC and the authorities of Chechnya.

Mikhail Fedotov has reported that Ramzan Kadyrov "promised to assist the law enforcement agencies in verifying the information described in the publications of the newspaper 'Novaya Gazeta'."

The information will be verified by the authorities of Chechnya "exclusively formally," believes Mikhail Roschin, Senior Researcher at the Centre for the Study of Central Asia, the Caucasus and the Urals and the Volga Region of the Institute for Oriental Studies of the Russian Academy of Sciences (RAS).

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