Human rights defenders announce detention of a Grozny resident after his coming-out

In Chechnya, the police detained a Grozny man who confessed to being homosexual, human rights defender Igor Kochetkov reported and called on the Prosecutor’s Office to conduct an investigation. After the detention of a young man in Chechnya, two other persons disappeared, whose contacts could be in his mobile phone, the “SK SOS” Crisis Group reported.

The “Caucasian Knot” has reported that in January, the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) adopted a resolution on protecting the rights of LGBT people in Europe, paying special attention to persecution based on sexual orientation in Chechnya, and demanded from the Russian authorities to protect the victims and punish the guilty persons.

A man has been detained in Chechnya who confessed to non-traditional sexual orientation, Igor Kochetkov, the former head of the “Russian LGBT Network”*, reported on Facebook**.

“Where he is now and whether he is alive at all is unknown. All this week I have been receiving messages from Chechnya asking for help for the detainee,” Igor Kochetkov wrote.

The detention of the young man created a threat “for a dozen people whose contacts were found in his mobile phone,” said Miron Rozanov, the spokesperson for the “SK SOS” Crisis Group.

*The movement has been included by the Russian Ministry of Justice (MoJ) into the register of the unregistered public associations performing the functions of a foreign agent.

**On March 21, the Tverskoi Court of Moscow banned the activities in Russia of the Meta Company, owning Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp, in connection with extremist activities.