Contents tagged with LGBT
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LGBT community: 40 gays arrested in Chechnya since end of December
Nearly 40 members of the LGBT community have been arrested and two have been killed in the Chechen Republic since the end of 2018 according to the human rights organization LGBT Network. The Chechen authorities have denied this information, Interfax reports.
“The Russian LGBT Network has learned that, since the end of December 2018, there has been a new wave of men and women being arrested in connection with their presumed or real sexual orientation. According to the Russian LGBT Network, …
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Media: Russians who entered same-sex marriage accused of damaging official documents
Moscow police initiated administrative proceedings against Pavel Stotzko and Evgeny Voytsekhovsky for damaging their passports after registering their same-sex marriage in Moscow, reported Meduza news website with reference to the Russian Ministry of Internal Affairs.
On Saturday, January 27, the Russian LGBT Network stated that law enforcement officers tried to enter the apartment of Stotzko and Voytsekhovsky in Lyubertsy. Stotzko told Dozhd (“TV Rain”) that he refused to open the door, after …
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Victim mentioned in article on gay persecution in Chechnya speaks openly in Russia
In Moscow a press conference was held with Maksim Lapunov, the first person to speak openly about the persecution of gays in the Chechen Republic without demanding anonymity, the BBC Russian service reports.
Lapunov, a native of the Omsk province, said that he lived for two years in Chechnya. He claims that on March 16 he was arrested and held in a basement for 12 days. He has already written to the Russian Investigative Committee demanding a case be filed against the people who oppressed him. …
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31 LGBT representatives from Chechnya received asylum in Canada
The charity organization Rainbow Railroad helped 35 representatives of the LGBT community in Chechnya come to Canada, and 31 of them have received asylum, CBC News reported.
“We are working on a program with the Canadian government which will make it possible for persecuted LGBT Chechens to enter the country,” Rainbow Railroad executive director Kimahli Powell told CBC News in an interview.
According to him, the charity organization has already helped 140 members of the LGBT community from …
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Chechnya draws up list of singers who may be homosexual
Kavkaz.Realii reports, citing employees of human rights organizations working in the Chechnya, that Chechen security forces have drawn up a list of cultural figures that may be homosexual.
"Two or three dozen names of cultural figures, mainly singers, are on this list. They became known from people who were kept in secret prisons for gays," said a worker at one of the local NGOs.
According to an employee of another non-governmental organization, at least three gay detainees were asked about …
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Media: Chechen gays hunted as terrorism suspects in Chechnya
Chechen police have announced a search for several homosexuals suspected of involvement in the terrorist group “Islamic State” (ISIS), as reported by a source in one of the advocacy organizations which helps evacuate homosexuals, Kavkaz.Realii writes.
According to the publication’s correspondent, in this way the Chechen law enforcement agencies are preventing the evacuation of gays from the republic.
“Literally the other day a young girl was pronounced a terrorist. She ran away from home …
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The Head of the Chechen Parliament denied allegations about his involvement in gay abuse
The speaker of the Parliament of Chechnya called the Human Rights Watch report ‘cheap slander’ and stated he welcomed an investigation. Earlier, the human rights organization accused him of being involved in the prosecution of gays in the republic.
The Speaker of the Parliament of Chechnya, Magomed Daudov, commented on the report by the human rights organization, Human Rights Watch (HRW), on his page on Instagram, accusing him of being involved in the prosecution of gays in Chechnya.
"Yes, I …
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Media: One of the victims of the persecution of homosexuals in Chechnya was a member of the Russian National Guard
One of the victims of the mass persecution of homosexuals in Chechnya was a serviceman of National Guard of the Russian Federation (Rosgvardia), as reported by Novaya Gazeta citing unnamed sources.
"We provided new information to the investigation in order to verify the four victims who were residents of Chechnya. Three of whom, according to our information, were killed in on the suspicion of homosexual orientation (among them - an employee of the National Guard)," the report says.
According …
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Human rights activist: Not only gays end up in 'secret prisons' in Chechnya
The topic of “secret prisons” in Chechen territory has already been around for much more than a year, said Igor Kalyapin, head of the Committee to Prevent Torture, in an interview with the Rosbalt news outlet. According to Kalyapin, “undesirables” of all kinds are put in these prisons.
“Unfortunately, facts of this kind are encountered not only in Chechnya. But for this republic the problem remains particularly relevant. As far as I know, even now in the Chechen Republic people continue to be …
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Russian LGBT activists relocate more than 40 homosexuals out of Chechnya
Igor Kochetkov, chairman of the Russian LGBT network, who is involved in legal aid for Chechen homosexuals and assists in relocating them from the republic, told Current Time news outlet that since the publication of Novaya Gazeta’s investigations regarding the persecution of homosexuals in Chechnya, more than 80 people have approached them for help.
“Since the first of April, we started receiving requests. Already more than 80 people have approached us. Thus far, of them more than 40 people …