AI declares June 2 the World Day of Actions in support of LGBTs in Chechnya

The Amnesty International (AI) has handed over to Russian Embassies in several European countries signatures to the petition "Shed light on repressions against homosexuals in Chechnya!" Since April 5, throughout the world, it has gathered over 663,000 signatures.

The "Caucasian Knot" has reported that today activists of the AI and the Human Rights Watch (HRW) held a protest action in front of the Russian Embassy in Paris. Vadim Zenkin, the first secretary of the Embassy, took signatures from the protesters.

Signatures in support of the Chechen LGBT community were gathered in European countries, and in Australia, Brazil, Canada, New Zealand, the USA, Taiwan and Thailand. The AI has declared June 2 to be the World Day of Actions in support of LGBTs in Chechnya.

Such actions were held in Great Britain, Norway, Finland and Denmark, the Deutsche Welle reports with reference to Alexander Artemiev, the AI's representative in Russia.

"According to my information, within the next few days, Tatiana Moskalkova, the Russian Ombudsperson, will visit Chechnya, and if her inquiry yields fruit, a criminal case will be opened," the AI's website quotes Dmitry Bukin, Deputy Ambassador, as saying.

Activists in Denmark have also appealed to their government with a demand to immediately issue visas to Chechen gays, who are trying to escape persecutions. So far, only Lithuania has publicly agreed to issue visas to homosexuals from Chechnya.

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