"Novaya Gazeta" insists on detailed verification of information about gays in Chechnya

The newspaper "Novaya Gazeta" has not received any interim response from the Investigating Committee of the Russian Federation (ICRF) concerning verification of the information about the persecution of LGBT community members in Chechnya. The verification should be detailed and full-fledged. This was reported by Nadezhda Prousenkova, the press secretary for the newspaper "Novaya Gazeta".

The "Caucasian Knot" has reported that on July 6, Tatiana Moskalkova, Russia's Commissioner for Human Rights, reported that she received an interim response from the ICRF concerning verification of the information about the persecution of LGBT community members in Chechnya. According to it, the ICRF did not reveal any facts confirming violent actions against (such) persons.

"Since my request and the letter which I have sent from the 'Novaya Gazeta' contain the names of the people (members of the LGBT community), allegedly deceased, then the check on that facts is not considered to be complete, and I will request the ICRF to write a clarifying answer on surnames listed in the letter," stated Tatiana Moskalkova.

"Being a complainant, we were also supposed to receive the results of the check. However, we did not receive any results from them. And given the reaction of Tatiana Moskalkova, the Commissioner got a runaround letter from the ICRF and did not agree with it," said Nadezhda Prousenkova, the press secretary for the newspaper "Novaya Gazeta".

"We fully share the position of the Commissioner for Human Rights and insist on carrying out a detailed and full-fledged verification of all the facts we have stated," emphasized Nadezhda Prousenkova.

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