Gay men in Chechnya are being rounded up, jailed and tortured
Over the last few weeks, reports have emerged that at least 100 gay men have been rounded up and detained in secret prisons in the Russian republic of Chechnya.
Human Rights Watch is calling it a "Gay Purge."
According to Novaya Gazetta, the independent Russian newspaper that broke this story, those arrested on suspicion of being gay face humiliation, torture and, for at least three men so far, death.
Novaya Gazetta is well known for its investigative journalism, and it's one of the only Russian media outlets willing to be critical of the Russian government. But after receiving death threats, one of the journalists working on the story has gone into hiding.
Day 6 host Brent Bambury spoke with Maxim Eristavi, a Ukranian writer and civil rights advocate who works equally between Kyiv, Ukraine and Prague, Czech Republic and has been following the crackdown in Chechnya closely.
A hotline and a lifeline
The Russian LGBT Network is helping gay men get out of Chechnya, and gathering first-hand accounts of the crackdown through a hotline it created.
In a statement released on April 17, the group said 60 people had already reached out for help and that it had been able to provide support for more than 30 people. The group says two of the people who asked for help getting out of Chechnya have not been heard from since.
"People who were seeking refugee status from regions like Chechnya…had terrible troubles finding legal help or just exercising their right to run for their lives," says Eristavi.
The Russian LGBT Network says it is hearing graphic accounts of torture and humiliation on its hotline.
An anonymous source who contacted the hotline said he witnessed the torture of people suspected of homosexuality and provided photos of people with extensive hematomas. He also said the detained people were not fed properly and were sometimes beaten to death.
"There are people that have been brought in, interrogated, beaten, humiliated and then they extort money and information about other possible gay men that they want to take in as well," says Eristavi. "It seems that many of them fit crimes against humanity."
In another report to the Russian LGBT Network's hotline, a young gay man from Grozny, the Chechen capital, said he was detained by security officials on suspicion of being gay and that they beat him with a hose and electrocuted him in order to get a confession.
The same account says that security officials said their orders came from the leaders of the Republic.
The most horrifying thing, it's organized by law enforcement backed by officials,- Maxime Eristavi
A state-sponsored problem
Eristavi says this is one of the most disturbing things about this violence: that it's being carried out by the state.
"In Chechnya, there has been a record and history of the regime using really brutal tactics of extra judicial executions and detentions for dissenting voices for years. It has a direct link to the Kremlin and their support for this repressive regime of President Kadyrov in Chechnya."
When asked about the crackdown on gay men, a spokesperson for Chechen President Ramzan Kadyrov said it couldn't be happening because there are no gay men in Chechnya.
"Anti-LGBT policies are also popular in Russia, Azerbaijan, Georgia and even Ukraine," says Eristavi. "But at the same time we don't have any experience of dealing with law enforcement-backed violence against gay people."
"They [Chechen authorities] don't care about foreign press or international pressure, unless that call from the Kremlin comes and says 'You should stop this.'"