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==Large-scale raids and killings==
==Large-scale raids and killings==
⚫
Arrests began after [[Gayrussia.ru]] applied for permits to hold [[gay pride parade]]s in four cities within the [[Kabardino-Balkar Republic]] in Russia's predominantly Muslim [[North Caucasus]] region, although not within Chechnya itself. The application in this district, which was denied by the Kabardino-Balkar authorities, prompted an anti-gay demonstration.<ref name="KramerNYT" /> Gayrussia.ru had not focused on the Muslim districts in particular, and had applied for permits for gay pride parades in 90 municipal governments all across Russia in an attempt to collect the inevitable denials, which would be used in a case about freedom of assembly and gay rights before the [[European Court of Human Rights]].<ref name="KramerNYT" />

[[Human Rights Watch]] reported in 2017 that "it is difficult to overstate just how vulnerable LGBT people are in Chechnya, where homophobia is intense and rampant. LGBT people are in danger not only of persecution by the authorities but also of falling victim to '[[honour killings]]' by their own relatives for tarnishing family honor."<ref>Tanya Lokshina, [https://www.hrw.org/news/2017/04/04/anti-lgbt-violence-chechnya Anti-LGBT Violence in Chechnya] [[Human Rights Watch]] (April 4, 2017).</ref> Kadyrov has encouraged [[extrajudicial killing]]s by family members as an alternative to law enforcement – in some cases, gay men in prison have been released early specifically to enable their murder by relatives.<ref name="IBTimes">{{cite news|url=http://www.ibtimes.co.uk/deadly-anti-lgbt-crisis-unfolding-chechnya-1616551?utm_campaign=/deadly-anti-lgbt-crisis-unfolding-chechnya-1616551|title='People are being tortured and killed': Chechnya's deadly anti-LGBT crisis|first=Lydia|last=Smith|date=11 April 2017|accessdate=12 April 2017|website=International Business News}}</ref>
[[Human Rights Watch]] reported in 2017 that "it is difficult to overstate just how vulnerable LGBT people are in Chechnya, where homophobia is intense and rampant. LGBT people are in danger not only of persecution by the authorities but also of falling victim to '[[honour killings]]' by their own relatives for tarnishing family honor."<ref>Tanya Lokshina, [https://www.hrw.org/news/2017/04/04/anti-lgbt-violence-chechnya Anti-LGBT Violence in Chechnya] [[Human Rights Watch]] (April 4, 2017).</ref> Kadyrov has encouraged [[extrajudicial killing]]s by family members as an alternative to law enforcement – in some cases, gay men in prison have been released early specifically to enable their murder by relatives.<ref name="IBTimes">{{cite news|url=http://www.ibtimes.co.uk/deadly-anti-lgbt-crisis-unfolding-chechnya-1616551?utm_campaign=/deadly-anti-lgbt-crisis-unfolding-chechnya-1616551|title='People are being tortured and killed': Chechnya's deadly anti-LGBT crisis|first=Lydia|last=Smith|date=11 April 2017|accessdate=12 April 2017|website=International Business News}}</ref>


The Chechen police and military have conducted [[entrapment]] schemes, in which a victim is lured to a date, beaten and humiliated. A recording is produced, and blackmail money is solicited in return for silence. Law enforcement agencies of Chechnya already keep lists of "suspects".<ref name="uawire.org">{{cite web|url=https://uawire.org/news/homosexual-men-from-Chechnya-confirm-existence-of-special-prisons-in-the-republic|title=Information uncovered about a second prison for homosexuals in the Russian republic of Chechnya|publisher=|accessdate=16 April 2017}}</ref> According to a source of Radio Liberty, raids on gays began in December 2016, subsided briefly, and large-scale raids resumed in February 2017. The first gays that were detained via entrapment were tortured for the names of their acquaintances. All the correspondence in their phone was checked, adding to the list kept.This result in the number of victims growing exponentially. According to Novaya Gazeta, at the end of February, the police detained a person who was in a state of substance intoxication and checked his phone. The phone had "pictures and videos with explicit content" and "dozens of contacts of local homosexuals." The detainee was sent to a "secret prison".<ref name="uawire.org" /> Subsequently, a "wave of persecution" began in Chechnya as an attempt to [[purge]] the country of those who are or are perceived to be homosexual.<ref name="uawire.org" /><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.standard.co.uk/news/world/gay-men-sent-to-concentrationstyle-camps-during-purge-in-chechnya-a3512611.html|title=Gay men 'sent to concentration-style camps during purge in Chechnya'|date=11 April 2017|publisher= The Evening Standard |accessdate=16 April 2017}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://abcnews.go.com/International/chechen-authorities-rounding-killing-gay-men-prophylactic-purge/story?id=46541508|title=Authorities rounding up, killing gay men in 'prophylactic purge,' Russian paper says|first= |last= |date=4 April 2017|publisher= ABC News |accessdate=16 April 2017}}</ref>
The Chechen police and military have conducted [[entrapment]] schemes, in which a victim is lured to a date, beaten and humiliated. A recording is produced, and blackmail money is solicited in return for silence. Law enforcement agencies of Chechnya already keep lists of "suspects".<ref name="uawire.org">{{cite web|url=https://uawire.org/news/homosexual-men-from-Chechnya-confirm-existence-of-special-prisons-in-the-republic|title=Information uncovered about a second prison for homosexuals in the Russian republic of Chechnya|publisher=|accessdate=16 April 2017}}</ref> According to a source of Radio Liberty, raids on gays began in December 2016, subsided briefly, and large-scale raids resumed in February 2017. The first gays that were detained via entrapment were tortured for the names of their acquaintances. All the correspondence in their phone was checked, adding to the list kept.This result in the number of victims growing exponentially. According to Novaya Gazeta, at the end of February, the police detained a person who was in a state of substance intoxication and checked his phone. The phone had "pictures and videos with explicit content" and "dozens of contacts of local homosexuals." The detainee was sent to a "secret prison".<ref name="uawire.org" /> Subsequently, a "wave of persecution" began in Chechnya as an attempt to [[purge]] the country of those who are or are perceived to be homosexual.<ref name="uawire.org" /><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.standard.co.uk/news/world/gay-men-sent-to-concentrationstyle-camps-during-purge-in-chechnya-a3512611.html|title=Gay men 'sent to concentration-style camps during purge in Chechnya'|date=11 April 2017|publisher= The Evening Standard |accessdate=16 April 2017}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://abcnews.go.com/International/chechen-authorities-rounding-killing-gay-men-prophylactic-purge/story?id=46541508|title=Authorities rounding up, killing gay men in 'prophylactic purge,' Russian paper says|first= |last= |date=4 April 2017|publisher= ABC News |accessdate=16 April 2017}}</ref>

⚫
Arrests began after [[Gayrussia.ru]] applied for permits to hold [[gay pride parade]]s in four cities within the [[Kabardino-Balkar Republic]] in Russia's predominantly Muslim [[North Caucasus]] region, although not within Chechnya itself. The application in this district, which was denied by the Kabardino-Balkar authorities, prompted an anti-gay demonstration.<ref name="KramerNYT" /> Gayrussia.ru had not focused on the Muslim districts in particular, and had applied for permits for gay pride parades in 90 municipal governments all across Russia in an attempt to collect the inevitable denials, which would be used in a case about freedom of assembly and gay rights before the [[European Court of Human Rights]].<ref name="KramerNYT" />


==Imprisonment ==
==Imprisonment ==

Revision as of 14:39, 17 April 2017

Since February 2017, over 100 male residents of the Chechen Republic (part of the Russian Federation) assumed to be gay or bisexual have been rounded up, detained and tortured by authorities on account of their sexual orientation.[1] These crackdowns have been described as part of a systemic anti-LGBT "purge" in the region. The men are held and allegedly tortured in what human rights groups and eyewitnesses have called concentration camps.[2][3]

Allegations were initially reported in Novaya Gazeta on April 1, 2017[4] a Russian-language opposition newspaper, which reported that over 100 men have allegedly been detained and tortured and at least three people have died in an extrajudicial killing.[5] The journalist who first reported on the subject has gone into hiding,[6][7] There have been calls for reprisals for journalists reporting on the situation.[8]

Chechnya and Russian authorities have denied any knowledge about the arrests.

In response, the Russian LGBT Network is attempting to assist those who are threatened to evacuate from Chechyna.[9][10] Human rights groups and foreign governments have called upon Russia and Chechyna to put an end to the internments.[11]

Background

LGBT rights in the Chechen Republic have long been a cause for concern among human rights organisations, and has been described as "especially bleak" within the context of the Russian Federation as a whole,[12] and singled out for criticism by human rights organizations such as Amnesty International before the 2017 crackdown.[13] Chechnya is a predominantly Muslim, ultra-conservative society in which homophobia is widespread and homosexuality is taboo, and where having a gay relative is seen as a "stain on the entire extended family".[14]

As a part of the Russian Federation, many of Russia's LGBT laws apply; however, Chechnya is a semi-autonomous republic within Russia's borders, with its own legal code. In Chechnya, as in other southern Russia regions, Russian President Vladimir Putin "has empowered local leaders to enforce their interpretation of traditional Muslim values, partly in an effort to co-opt Islamist extremism, which has largely been driven underground."[15] Although homosexuality was legalized in Russia in 1993,[16] in 1996 Chechen president Aslan Maskhadov adopted sharia law in his Republic, and article 148 of the Chechen penal code made all sodomy punishable by caning on the first two offences and execution on the third offence[13] (although the death penalty in Chechnya has not been carried out since 1999[17]). Although Chechnya returned to Russian direct rule in 2000, it retains some autonomy, and the current Head of the Chechen Republic, Ramzan Kadyrov, "has brought Islam to the fore of Chechnya's daily life, and gay people who reveal their sexuality are often discriminated against and shunned by their families."[18]

Large-scale raids and killings

Arrests began after Gayrussia.ru applied for permits to hold gay pride parades in four cities within the Kabardino-Balkar Republic in Russia's predominantly Muslim North Caucasus region, although not within Chechnya itself. The application in this district, which was denied by the Kabardino-Balkar authorities, prompted an anti-gay demonstration.[5] Gayrussia.ru had not focused on the Muslim districts in particular, and had applied for permits for gay pride parades in 90 municipal governments all across Russia in an attempt to collect the inevitable denials, which would be used in a case about freedom of assembly and gay rights before the European Court of Human Rights.[5]

Human Rights Watch reported in 2017 that "it is difficult to overstate just how vulnerable LGBT people are in Chechnya, where homophobia is intense and rampant. LGBT people are in danger not only of persecution by the authorities but also of falling victim to 'honour killings' by their own relatives for tarnishing family honor."[19] Kadyrov has encouraged extrajudicial killings by family members as an alternative to law enforcement – in some cases, gay men in prison have been released early specifically to enable their murder by relatives.[20]

The Chechen police and military have conducted entrapment schemes, in which a victim is lured to a date, beaten and humiliated. A recording is produced, and blackmail money is solicited in return for silence. Law enforcement agencies of Chechnya already keep lists of "suspects".[1] According to a source of Radio Liberty, raids on gays began in December 2016, subsided briefly, and large-scale raids resumed in February 2017. The first gays that were detained via entrapment were tortured for the names of their acquaintances. All the correspondence in their phone was checked, adding to the list kept.This result in the number of victims growing exponentially. According to Novaya Gazeta, at the end of February, the police detained a person who was in a state of substance intoxication and checked his phone. The phone had "pictures and videos with explicit content" and "dozens of contacts of local homosexuals." The detainee was sent to a "secret prison".[1] Subsequently, a "wave of persecution" began in Chechnya as an attempt to purge the country of those who are or are perceived to be homosexual.[1][21][22]

Imprisonment

According to Novaya Gazeta, independent media and human rights groups, homosexuals are sent to clandestine camps in Chechnya, which one eyewitness likened to a concentration camp, the first such camps specifically for gay and bisexual men since the Holocaust in Nazi Germany.[3] Around 100 men have been imprisoned and at least three people have already died. Some of the the guards in these allegedly unofficial jails are accused of releasing the prisoners to their relatives if the family promises to kill them. One location of a secret prison is allegedly in the southern city of Argun.[23] Another prison is located in Tsotsin-Yurt, south of the Chechen capital Grozny.[1]

Confirmation

Human Rights Watch has confirmed that authorities have "rounded up dozens of men on suspicion of being gay and torturing and humiliating the victims. Some of the men have forcibly disappeared. At least three men apparently have died since this brutal campaign began."[24]

An investigation by Radio Svoboda (Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty) claimed that prisoners are being released to families if they promise to murder them.[25]

According to The Guardian, in a interview with an escapee, 30 to 40 people are detained in one room, being beaten and tortured with electricity.[14] In some cases the process of torture ends in the death of the person being tortured.[26][27]

An April 7, 2017 press statement by The United States Department of State the expressed concern "about the situation in the Republic of Chechnya, where there have been numerous credible reports indicating the detention".[28]

Reactions

Domestic

Due to the date (April 1) of the initial Novaya Gazeta allegations, a spokesman for the region's interior ministry described the report as "an April fool's joke".[29] Alvi Karimov, spokesperson for Ramzan Kadyrov, also rejected the allegations, saying: "you cannot arrest or repress people who just don't exist in the republic", while also adding that "If there were such people in Chechnya, the law-enforcement organs wouldn't need to have anything to do with them because their relatives would send them somewhere from which there is no returning".[29]

On April 14, 2017 Dmitry Peskov, Press Secretary for the President of Russia, said "We do not have any reliable information about any problems in this area".[30]

The Russian LGBT Network is attempting to evacuate from Chechyna those who are threatened.[31][32]

International

On April 4, 2017 Amnesty International called for a prompt investigation and intervention,[33] and more than 130,000 people have signed a petition started by the organization in opposition to alleged human rights violations.[34]

The camps became an issue in the 2017 French presidential election, with Jean-Luc Mélenchon, Benoît Hamon and Emmanuel Macron condemning Chechnya for them, while François Fillon and Marine Le Pen remained silent.[35]

In the United Kingdom, British MEPs urged Prime Minister Theresa May and Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson to meet with the Russian Ambassador.[36] A protest attended by hundreds was held on April 12, 2017, outside the Embassy of Russia in London.[37][38]

Julie Bishop, the Australian Foreign Minister, condemned both the arrests and the camps.[39][40]

An April 7, 2017 press statement by the United States Department of State the expressed concern "about the situation in the Republic of Chechnya, where there have been numerous credible reports indicating the detentions and deaths of LGBTI individuals."[28] Fifty members of the United States Congress this signed a letter urging Secretary of State Rex Tillerson, who was in Russia in April to publicly question the validity of the reports and to pressure the Russian government to investigate and put a stop stop to the arrests.[41]

On April 13, 2017, a panel of five experts that advises the United Nations Human Rights Council called that Chechnya "put an end to the persecution of people perceived to be gay or bisexual in the Chechen Republic who are living in a climate of fear fueled by homophobic speeches by local authorities".[15]

Also on April 13, the director of the human rights office at the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe said that Moscow must "urgently investigate the alleged disappearance, torture and other ill-treatment" of gay men in Chechnya.[42]

Many celebrities and LGBT activists such as Troye Sivan, Ellen DeGeneres, Matt Bomer, Mark Ruffalo, and Billy Eichner have voiced their strong condemnation against these camps.[43]

See also

References

  1. ^ a b c d e "Information uncovered about a second prison for homosexuals in the Russian republic of Chechnya". Retrieved 16 April 2017.
  2. ^ Smith, Lydia (10 April 2017). "Chechnya detains 100 gay men in first concentration camps since the Holocaust". International Business Times UK. Retrieved 16 April 2017.
  3. ^ a b Reynolds, Daniel (10 April 2017). "Report: Chechnya Is Torturing Gay Men in Concentration Camps". The Advocate. Retrieved 16 April 2017.
  4. ^ Milashina, Elena (1 April 2017). "Murder of honor: the ambitions of a well-known LGBT activist awake a terrible ancient custom in Chechnya". Retrieved 14 April 2017. "Novaya Gazeta" became aware of mass detentions of residents of Chechnya in connection with their unconventional sexual orientation - or suspicion of such. At the moment, more than a hundred men have been informed of the detention. "Novaya Gazeta" knows the names of the three dead, but our sources say that there are many more victims.
  5. ^ a b c Kramer, Andrew E. (1 April 2017). "Chechen Authorities Arresting and Killing Gay Men, Russian Paper Says". Retrieved 15 April 2017 – via NYTimes.com.
  6. ^ "Analysis - She broke the story of Chechnya's anti-gay purge. Now, she says she has to flee Russia". Retrieved 16 April 2017.
  7. ^ "Reports Of New, Terrifying 'Gay Concentration Camps' Where Men Are Getting Tortured And Murdered". ELLE UK. 2017-04-13. Retrieved 2017-04-13.
  8. ^ Walker, Shaun (14 April 2017). "Journalists fear reprisals for exposing purge of gay men in Chechnya". Retrieved 15 April 2017 – via The Guardian.
  9. ^ "Russian LGBT Network evacuating 'at risk' people from Chechnya". Retrieved 16 April 2017.
  10. ^ "Pleas for help from gay men in Chechnya on rise, Russian group says". Retrieved 16 April 2017.
  11. ^ "Russia Urged to End Torture, Killing of Gays in Chechnya", Voice of America, April 13, 2017.
  12. ^ Savelau, Dmitry (12 April 2017). "Gay men in Chechnya are some of the most disempowered people in the world today". The Independent. Retrieved 16 April 2017.
  13. ^ a b Breaking the Silence: Human Rights Violations Based on Sexual Orientation. Amnesty Internation. 1997. p. 34. ISBN 1873328125.
  14. ^ a b Walker, Shaun (13 April 2017). "Chechens tell of prison beatings and electric shocks in anti-gay purge: 'They called us animals'". The Guardian. Retrieved 16 April 2017.
  15. ^ a b Chan, Sewell (13 April 2017). "U.N. Experts Condemn Killing and Torture of Gay Men in Chechnya". The New York Times. Retrieved 16 April 2017.
  16. ^ "Russia: Update to RUS13194 of 16 February 1993 on the treatment of homosexuals". Immigration and Refugee Board of Canada. 29 February 2000. Retrieved 21 May 2009.
  17. ^ Bright, Arthur (29 August 2012). "India uses death penalty: 5 other places where it's legal but rare". Christian Science Monitor. Retrieved 16 April 2017.
  18. ^ Osborne, Samuel (April 7, 2017). "Gay men being tortured and murdered in Chechen prisons, claim detainees". The Independent. Retrieved April 10, 2017. He has brought Islam to the fore of Chechnya's daily life, and gay people who reveal their sexuality are often discriminated against and shunned by their families.
  19. ^ Tanya Lokshina, Anti-LGBT Violence in Chechnya Human Rights Watch (April 4, 2017).
  20. ^ Smith, Lydia (11 April 2017). "'People are being tortured and killed': Chechnya's deadly anti-LGBT crisis". International Business News. Retrieved 12 April 2017.
  21. ^ "Gay men 'sent to concentration-style camps during purge in Chechnya'". The Evening Standard. 11 April 2017. Retrieved 16 April 2017.
  22. ^ "Authorities rounding up, killing gay men in 'prophylactic purge,' Russian paper says". ABC News. 4 April 2017. Retrieved 16 April 2017.
  23. ^ "Chechen families encouraged to MURDER gay relatives". Retrieved 16 April 2017.
  24. ^ Lokshina, Tanya (4 April 2017). "Anti-LGBT Violence in Chechnya". Human Rights Watch. Retrieved 14 April 2017.
  25. ^ "Information uncovered about a second prison for homosexuals in the Russian republic of Chechnya".
  26. ^ "People are being beaten and forced to 'sit on bottles' in anti-gay 'camps' in Chechnya". The Independent. 2017-04-11. Retrieved 2017-04-13.
  27. ^ "Chechnya has opened concentration camps for gay men". PinkNews. Retrieved 2017-04-13.
  28. ^ a b "The United States Concerned by Reports of Detentions and Deaths of LGBTI Individuals in Chechnya, Russia" (Press release). The United States Department of State. April 7, 2017. Retrieved 16 April 2016.
  29. ^ a b Walker, Shaun (2 April 2017). "Chechen police 'have rounded up more than 100 suspected gay men'". The Guardian. Retrieved 16 April 2017.
  30. ^ "Kremlin: no confirmed info on claimed Chechen gay killings". Fox News. April 14, 2017. Retrieved 16 April 2016.
  31. ^ "Russian LGBT Network evacuating 'at risk' people from Chechnya". Retrieved 16 April 2017.
  32. ^ "Pleas for help from gay men in Chechnya on rise, Russian group says". Retrieved 16 April 2017.
  33. ^ "Document". Retrieved 16 April 2017.
  34. ^ "Stop abducting and killing gay men in Chechnya". Amnesty International. Retrieved 2017-04-13.
  35. ^ Lacroix, Jérémie (13 April 2017). "Tchétchénie : Mélenchon s'indigne, Hamon et Macron condamnent, Fillon et Le Pen s'abstiennent". Têtu. Retrieved 13 April 2017.
  36. ^ "Huge crowds in London protest Chechnya's 'gay concentration camps'". Evening Standard. 2017-04-12. Retrieved 2017-04-13.
  37. ^ Grafton-Green, Patrick. "Hundreds protest against 'gay concentration camps' in Chechnya outside London's Russian Embassy". London Evening Standard. Retrieved April 13, 2017.
  38. ^ "Watch LGBT activists outside the Russian Embassy protest the 'prison camps' for gay men in Chechnya". The Independent. 2017-04-13. Retrieved 2017-04-13.
  39. ^ Koziol, Michael (13 April 2017). "Julie Bishop reproaches Russia over 'mass arrests' of gay men in Chechnya". Sydney Morning Herald. Retrieved 14 April 2017.
  40. ^ Wade, Matthew (14 April 2017). "JULIE BISHOP CONDEMNS GAY CONCENTRATION CAMPS IN CHECHNYA". Star Observer. Retrieved 14 April 2017.
  41. ^ Duffy, Nick (13 April 2017). "50 Members of Congress sign letter condemning anti-gay purge in Chechnya". PinkNews. Retrieved 16 April 2017.
  42. ^ Nordwall, Smita (13 April 2017). "Russia Urged to End Torture, Killing of Gays in Chechnya". VOA. Retrieved 16 April 2017.
  43. ^ Wong, Curtis (13 April 2017). "Ellen DeGeneres And Others Call For End To Gay 'Concentration Camps'". Huffington Post. Retrieved 15 April 2017.

External links

Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Anti-gay_purges_in_Chechnya&oldid=775859245"