The possible decision of the International Criminal Court or ICC on the lawsuit brought by LGBT associations against the head of Chechnya, Ramzan Kadyrov will not have legal consequences for Russia. This was stated by the head of the Ministry of Justice of the Russian Federation, Alexander Konovalov, Interfax reports.

"What the court will decide is difficult for me to foresee but it should not have legal consequences for Russia," he said at a briefing in St. Petersburg.

Earlier, three French LGBT associations filed a complaint with the ICC against Ramzan Kadyrov in connection with reports of the persecution of gay people in Chechnya. He noted that Russia is not a party to the International Criminal Court.

In November last year, Russian President Vladimir Putin signed a decree on Russia's intention not to become a party to the Rome Statute, the treaty that established the ICC. Russia signed the treaty in 2000 but that would not have formally made it a participating country. That would have happened only after the ratification of the treaty, which Russia did not implement.

Mass arrests and killings of gays in Chechnya, as well as secret prisons for homosexuals in early April were reported by Novaya Gazeta. Chechnya denied the claims and stated that the journalists who disseminate this information would suffer the "punishment of Allah."

In early May, Putin promised to discuss the persecution of homosexuals in Chechnya with Prosecutor General Yury Chaika and Interior Minister Vladimir Kolokoltsev. Before that, Putin met with Kadyrov in the Kremlin and discussed with him information about the persecution of gays in the region.

Subsequently, US Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley and German Chancellor Angela Merkel demanded that the Russian authorities interfere with the persecution of gays in Chechnya. British Prime Minister Theresa May said that the country is ready to provide emergency support to gays in the republic.

  Russia, Chechnya, LGBT, International Criminal Court

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