In Paris, protesters demand to stop homophobia in Chechnya

In Paris, activists on protest in front of the Russian Embassy have handed over to Russian diplomats 120,000 signatures collected in France under the petition "To shed light on the repression of homosexuals in Chechnya."

In Paris, human rights defenders from the "Amnesty International" and the "Human Rights Watch" (HRW) held a protest action in front of the Russian Embassy against the persecution of gays in Chechnya, the "Dozhd" (Rain) reports with reference to Ksenia Gulia, an "RFI" correspondent.

Vadim Zenkin, the first secretary of the Russian Embassy in Paris came out to the activists to take the petition with signatures, the newspaper "Novaya Gazeta" reports.

Today, according to the newspaper, similar protest actions have been held in front of the Russian Embassies in several major cities of the world, including Brussels, Montreal, Stockholm, and Kiev. In total, more than 600,000 signatures from different countries have been collected under the petition, reports Julie Esluen, a French action coordinator.

In his turn, John Dalhuisen, the Europe and Central Asia programme director at the "Amnesty International" (AI), has called on the international community "to open doors to all people forced to flee Chechnya in order to escape from homophobic persecution."

Let us remind you that on May 30, Ramzan Kadyrov invited French President Emmanuel Macron and German Chancellor Angela Merkel to visit Chechnya and personally assess the situation with the rights of sexual minorities in the republic.

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