Chechen native claims his kidnapping by law enforcers

Law enforcers kidnapped a resident of Chechnya, suspecting him of non-traditional sexual orientation, kept him in a basement and beat him during a month, the victim said. After fleeing Chechnya, the man was helped with finding housing in another city, the “Russian LGBT Network”* reported.

The man told the “Caucasian Knot” correspondent that law enforcers kidnapped him in 2019. “I spent about a month in a basement. They beat me every day and said that people like me should not live,” the man claims.

A month later he was brought home on the condition that his family “would solve the problem” by itself. “That is, they implied that my brothers would kill me and wash away the shame from our family. The brothers beat me up and put me in a barn. Meanwhile, they told me that they would kill me at night. My mother secretly opened the barn, telling me to run away to save my life. I fled Chechnya at night and reached Moscow by train,” the man said. After that, all the relatives disavowed him.

The man claims that the law enforcers learned about his non-traditional sexual orientation from his partner whom he met: the man surrendered him under torture.

The victim was afraid to contact the law enforcement bodies. “I am still terrified and in constant stress. I am in Russia. I would like someone to help me go abroad. I wander, and I have nothing to eat,” the man says.

The Ministry of Justice (MoJ) of Russia has included the “Sphere” Foundation, which is the operator of the “Russian LGBT Network”, in the register of foreign agents.