11 gays tell about torture and their escape from Chechnya

Residents of Chechnya, who left the republic due to a project of the "Russian LGBT Network", reported about torture after detentions and about the role of top-ranking officials in organizing gay raids.

Following publications about the persecution of gays from Chechnya, by late 2017, the "Russian LGBT Network" organized the departure of 106 people to six countries, the newspaper "Novaya Gazeta" reports. The newspaper published stories of 11 gay men from Chechnya who had already left the republic.

Vakhid reported that he was persecuted for more than two years. He was subjected to torture and extortion of money.

"They told me they would tear my ass. They will write on my back 'a gay', kill me and leave my body in a dump," he added.

The young man believes he was able to avoid more cruel torture, since his friends in due time advised him to escape.

A resident of the Chechen village of Tarkhan reported he was taken to Argun, where he was kept for about 20 days and "every day tortured with electric current." According to his story, about 30 people were kept together with him, and law enforcers forced the detainees to torture each other with electric current.

According to the source, the detainees were brutally beaten, and law enforcers periodically staged preparations for their execution. Then the detainees were handed over to their male relatives. A top-ranking official suggested that the relatives who arrived should take them home to kill them.

Some detainees, according to Rizvan, were taken to the residence of the Chechen leader.

Usman, whom law enforcers took away from home, did not admit his homosexual orientation. According to him, he had a wife and children, and law enforcers were not sure that he was a gay.

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