Chechen authorities ignore UN's call to stop persecution of gays

UN experts have stated they "are alarmed by information pointing to a new wave of persecution based on sexual orientation" in Chechnya, reports the appeal released on the UN Human Rights Council' page on February 13.

The "Caucasian Knot" has reported that 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.

"Abuse inflicted on victims has allegedly become more cruel and violent compared with reports from 2017. It is no longer only gay men in Chechnya who are being targeted but women also," UN experts said.

The UN experts also noted that they are alarmed by the information that "the Chechen authorities are also reportedly now trying to prevent victims from fleeing the region or filing complaints." "This week, the UN experts expressed in writing their concerns to the government of the Russian Federation to protect representatives of the LGBT community in Chechnya," the statement said.

Reports of persecution in Chechnya based on sexual orientation "crossed all borders" and an "information gay attack" on Chechnya became a part of the anti-Russian policy, said Alvi Karimov, the press secretary of Ramzan Kadyrov, on February 13. "They sit in their offices in Geneva, Washington, and other cities and quote each other, not having a single objective and reliable fact," Alvi Karimov explained in his interview for the RIA "Novosti".

He has also expressed the opinion that "information gay attack is a serious and well-designed part of the economic, political, psychological, and information attack directed against Russia." "In their allegations, authors of those reports already reach the point of absurdity when they speak of some arrests and persecutions. I declare that there was no a single case of arrest on those grounds in Chechnya," said Alvi Karimov.

This article was originally published on the Russian page of 24/7 Internet agency ‘Caucasian Knot’ on February 14, 2019 at 03:32 pm MSK. To access the full text of the article, click here.