22:48, 31 January 2019

In Grozny, law enforcers try to detain advocate who defends gay man

Law enforcers held for some time Alexander Karavaev, an advocate from Nizhny Novgorod, who tried to find out the fate of his client Bekkhan Yusupov.

The "Caucasian Knot" has reported that on January 29, the "Russian LGBT Network" reported about detention of Bekkhan Yusupov in Chechnya during a new wave of detention and torture of homosexuals. The gay man was granted asylum in France, but came to his homeland to visit his relatives.

On January 11, the "Novaya Gazeta" reported on another wave of persecution of gays in the Chechen Republic. According to the Russian LGBT Network, since the end of December 2018, about 40 people were detained in Chechnya for their supposed or actual non-traditional sexual orientation; two persons were killed.

Today, advocate Alexander Karavaev has tried to find out the fate of his client detained in one of the Grozny police stations. "The police station is disguised as a prefecture and there are no signs on the building. When Alexander Karavaev found it and made a photo, armed people in uniforms jumped out of the building and tried to force the advocate to go with them to some unknown destination. After the calls to the authorities, the advocate was released," wrote Facebook user Konstantin Gusev on his page in the social network.

The advocate prepares complaints to the Investigating Committee of the Russian Federation (ICRF) and its Department for Chechnya, the Prosecutor's Office, and the FSB. He also prepares an appeal to Russia's Ombudsperson Tatiana Moskalkova with a request to help find out the fate of Chechen resident Bekkhan Yusupov.

This article was originally published on the Russian page of 24/7 Internet agency ‘Caucasian Knot’ on January 31, 2019 at 07:09 pm MSK. To access the full text of the article, click here.