Chechen gays. "Novaya Gazeta": gays are being killed in Chechnya
At the end of last week, information appeared in the media about the persecution of homosexual men in Chechnya. The editors of Yuga.ru looked into the situation
What happened
On April 1, Novaya Gazeta reported that mass detentions of men suspected of non-traditional sexual orientation were taking place in Chechnya. According to media reports, at least three people were killed, and among the hundred detainees were well-known people in the republic, religious figures and two TV presenters. This information was confirmed to the publication by sources in law enforcement agencies, in the administration of the head of Chechnya and in the community of local LGBT activists.
Novaya Gazeta quotes the text of the message from thematic group V social network"VKontakte":
“Not just young guys were killed, but even adult men over 50 years old. Among them there are well-known personalities in Chechnya.
Participated in various events, television programs, and competitions. I don't want to mention their names. The youngest is 16 years old. He is from our village. Just the other day they brought him all beaten up, just a bag of bones. They threw him into the yard and told him to kill him. They still say he hasn’t come to his senses and is unlikely to come. I don’t know how they explain why they do this, they will be asked to provide evidence that our son or brother is like that.”
Information about the detention of gays in Chechnya was confirmed by a Yuga.ru source in the Russian LGBT Network: “This problem became known a week ago. The information came through human rights channels. We do not have an exact figure on the number of detainees. But we are preparing to help people evacuate if something happens.”
At least three people were killed, and among the hundred detainees were well-known people in the republic, religious figures and two TV presenters.
Reaction of the Chechen authorities
On the evening of the same day, comments from the republican authorities appeared in the press. Thus, the press secretary of the head of Chechnya, Alvi Karimov, denied information about mass detentions. According to him, the information that appeared in the media is “an attempt to denigrate the Chechen Republic,” as well as lies and disinformation.
“The publication that appeared is an absolute lie. You cannot detain and oppress someone who simply is not in the republic,” Karimov said.
He also emphasized that “if there were such people in Chechnya, law enforcement agencies would not have any worries with them, since their relatives themselves would send them to an address from which they do not return.”
The Human Rights Council under the head of Chechnya also commented on information about the mass detentions of gays. According to one of its members, Kheda Saratova, the persecution of gay people is not condemned in Chechen society.
“I cannot draw a line, but I can only say that even extreme measures against such people will not be condemned by the society in which we live. I think that even if such a person is killed by his own relatives, they will do whatever they can not to disclose it. And the entire judicial system, and the same authorities, will also treat with understanding what happened in this family. They won’t particularly rock the boat and defend this person,” Saratova said.
I wouldn't even consider a claim about the murder of a gay man.
Kheda Saratova, member of the Human Rights Council under the head of Chechnya
A member of the Human Rights Council under the head of Chechnya also added that she had not received a single statement on this matter, but she “would not even consider it.”
“I am a Chechen, I live in this society, and what you say is even worse than war. If we turn a blind eye to this today, I am sure that our society will disintegrate, and this must under no circumstances be allowed,” she emphasized.
However, the next day, Saratova told Business FM that she was “misunderstood” and she “did not call for reprisals against gays.” She explained her words by the “shock” she was in after the news that “gays can live in Chechnya.”
“I naturally knew that they existed in the world, but I had never heard that they existed in our society. All this shocked me. Maybe I was even a little crazy when I gave the interview. I regret that I said some phrases, for example, that relatives will not regret if something happens to them. I really regret this,” Saratova said, adding that she was perplexed “why [the media] are trying to tarnish the image of Chechen human rights activists.”
Applications for gay pride parades in the Caucasus
Novaya Gazeta's sources in the Chechen special services linked the mass detentions of gays in the republic with requests by LGBT activists to hold gay pride parades in four Caucasian cities.
Let us remind you: in the first half of March, activist from the Sverdlovsk region Vladimir Klimov submitted applications to hold gay pride parades in Nalchik, Cherkessk, Stavropol and Maykop. The applications stated that the events were planned to be held “in support of a tolerant attitude and respect for the rights and freedoms of persons of homosexual orientation and gender minorities in Russia.” According to the notice, the number of intended participants was 300. Moscow resident Nikolai Alekseev is indicated as the immediate manager of the procession.
Klimov himself said that events in the cities of the North Caucasus are planned “as part of a big campaign.” “78 regions have already been covered. Applications were submitted in Nalchik, Cherkessk, Stavropol and Maykop. No replies have been received yet. There is interaction with local activists, we are waiting for approval. The stated dates are different, we will manage everything,” the activist said.
A few days later, an official response was received from the authorities of these cities. Neither in Nalchik, nor in Cherkessk, nor in Stavropol, nor in Maykop did the authorities allow an LGBT rally. And in Nalchik, local residents even organized a gathering at which they opposed holding a gay pride parade in their city.
“This is our land, and we will not allow such dirt here. We have gathered here not to prevent the procession, but to stop even thoughts about it. Neither the Kabardians, nor the Balkars, in general the entire Caucasus will allow this procession,” said one of the participants in the gathering.
“It was at this time that a command was given in Chechnya for a “preventive cleansing”, and things came to real murders,” reports Novaya Gazeta, citing own sources in the security forces of Chechnya.
In turn, one of the organizers of gay pride parades, Nikolai Alekseev, said that he plans to appeal the decisions of the authorities of these cities and is ready to go to the European Court of Human Rights. And when asked about the connection between requests to hold gay pride parades in the Caucasus and mass detentions in Chechnya, he replied that the journalist “speculates on unverified information, operates on unfounded facts, and he personally knows nothing about such persecution and the consequences of his actions.”
So far there is no official confirmation of mass persecution in Chechnya. But federal authorities have already responded to the situation. Thus, the head of the Presidential Council for Human Rights, Mikhail Fedotov, said that reports of persecution of LGBT people in Chechnya need to be verified.
“I contacted our colleagues in Chechnya today, they have no information about this. But the signal is so monstrous that it certainly needs careful verification,” Fedotov said.
Press Secretary of the Russian President Dmitry Peskov said that law enforcement agencies will check information about the persecution of gays in Chechnya. “We don’t know how true this information is. Of course, there are publications, and the internal affairs bodies will check this,” Peskov told the Dozhd TV channel.
The Russian LGBT Network also made an official statement. The organization’s council expressed indignation and concern both at the information about the kidnappings and murders of people, and at the reaction of officials of the Chechen Republic: “No national and/or religious traditions and norms can justify the kidnapping and murder of a person. Any reference to “tradition” to justify kidnappings and murders is immoral and criminal.”
from the official statement of the Russian LGBT Network
The organization also reported that it would submit two applications to the Investigative Committee of the Russian Federation. One - with a demand to check the report on crimes published in Novaya Gazeta. The second is to demand that public statements justifying the killings made by Chechen officials on April 1 be checked for criminality.
“Remember that the human rights situation in the North Caucasus is very difficult. Now we're talking about about people's lives, and these people can only be helped by evacuating them. The Russian LGBT Network has the resources to smuggle people out; there is a team that is already doing everything possible to save lives. That is why we ask you to pass on all information about people who need help, and any offers of help to us,” says the official statement of the Russian LGBT Network.
The discussion took place at the Urban Culture Center. The organizers are the online magazine “Star” and the LGBT initiative group “Rainbow World”, which advocates equal rights regardless of gender identity and sexual orientation. The discussion was moderated by Zvezda coordinator Anastasia Sechina. Three dozen people came to the meeting.
We started with Chechnya. From there there are reports of beatings and murders of gays and even prisons for homosexuals. Novaya Gazeta reported this on April 1, then other Russian and foreign media continued the topic.
Crimes against gays: both in Chechnya and Perm
Homophobia - both in Chechnya and in Perm - essentially its one and the same. This is what one of the experts, the head of the LGBT initiative group “Rainbow World” thinks Yulia Babintseva.
Yulia Babintseva Photo: Timur AbasovThe scenarios are the same,” Julia said in her opening remarks. - Extortion of money, violence, blackmail. And this is done by people who talk about the value of justice and respect for traditions. It is impossible to see the full picture of crimes against homosexuals, in particular in the Perm region, because law enforcement agencies do not keep separate statistics. From media reports alone, we know of at least two serious crimes motivated by homophobia in the Kama region last year. In one case we are talking about violent acts of a sexual nature with beating. In another - about a beating that led to death. In general, during the monitoring conducted by the Rainbow World group, in 2015-2016 we recorded about five dozen cases of discrimination against homosexual and transgender people.
Violence against certain groups is a feature of a patriarchal society, added another expert, feminist, candidate of historical sciences Daria Vershinina. In her opinion, violence against gays can be compared to violence against women.
We know that gays are persecuted in Chechnya, but we only know the stories of gay men,” Vershinina noted. - What about [gay] women, why is there no information about them? The answer is how the patriarchal system works. It works both in Chechnya and in the rest of Russia, although to a lesser extent. In it, those men who themselves refuse masculinity in the usual sense are subject to even greater aggression than women.
Daria Vershinina Photo: Timur Abasov Third expert, clinical psychologist, gestalt therapist Maria Naimushina compared violence against homosexuals with violence in artificially created children's groups, for example, schools. The psychologist noticed that bullying Bullying Bullying of one team member by others There are no spectators in educational institutions. They are his same victims, who are overcome by the fear of becoming an outcast and shame for inaction. At the same time, the audience is the fuel for aggression.
“What can I do against a pack of mad dogs?”
Over time, I changed my attitude towards violence at school,” said Maria Naimushina. - “I used to see the origins of bullying in the victim herself. That is, she was looking for features of difference, for which they allegedly persecute. But then I realized that the victim’s dissimilarity from others is conditional. In other words, anyone can get hurt. It’s the same on a national scale - any group can “survive” to the point where they will start working on it.
Daria Vershinina agreed with this. In her opinion, the position of a silent observer only seems safe. In reality, if you don’t stand up for someone else, they will come for you tomorrow. But how can you stop being an observer? “For example, if in Perm a crowd of skinheads attacks a gay man. What can I do against a pack of mad dogs? Masculinity will come in handy here...” said a young man from the audience. Another participant in the discussion, a practicing psychologist, responded with an example that she herself witnessed. It happened near the Central Market, several adult men were beating another. People passed by, pretending not to notice what was happening, until one of the women literally flew into the crowd of offenders. Other women came running to her cry - and so the unfortunate man was freed.
Photo: Timur Abasov During the discussion, it was impossible to avoid assessing the authenticity of the facts from the Novaya Gazeta material. One of the men noticed that the article was published on April 1. “The newspaper threw out either a joke or a canard,” the man said, smiling. “After that, even the press secretary of the head of the Chechen Republic called it complete nonsense.” Having made this remark, he almost immediately left the hall. The man was objected - some victims are already speaking openly about themselves; one of those who fled abroad gave an interview to an American TV channel. In addition, after the article in Novaya, the human rights ombudsman in the republic stated that there are no gays in Chechnya — and this in itself makes one worry.
We need facts,” said another skeptic, “the one who was concerned about a “pack of rabid dogs.” - “So far I have not seen any unique evidence [that there was persecution of homosexuals]. No photos, videos.
The girl in the next row said that she saw both photos of the victims and signs of abuse.
How did the Investigative Committee react to this? - asked the young man.
No way.
Wait, but that doesn’t happen!.. In your opinion, there is no reaction to violations of the rights of dozens of people? This is very doubtful!
Photo: Timur Abasov After these words, Maria Naimushina suggested that the fear of that very “pack of mad dogs” is the reason for disbelief in crimes against people of unconventional orientation. She suggested thinking about the nature of such mistrust.
“Open homosexuals are safer”
Yulia Babintseva from Rainbow World is sure that you need to be as open as possible. “The fact that gays and lesbians do not hide their orientation can, in some cases, protect them: there will be nothing to blackmail them with,” Babintseva believes. “And, if anything happens, they will be more willing to contact the police.”
You especially shouldn’t be afraid of your loved ones, added one of the listeners. She told her story. One day her mother admitted that she was a lesbian. The daughter guessed something (my mother’s friend often stayed at home) and, moreover, had nothing against it. However, this was hidden in the family, the reason was the fear of being misunderstood and unaccepted. According to the girl, the one who really cares about you will not change his attitude towards you.
Photo: Timur Abasov However, the discussion participants agreed that coming out Coming out Voluntary recognition by a person of belonging to a sexual or gender minority not possible everywhere and not always. Moreover, today's public policy is aimed at rejecting people of unconventional orientation: according to Yulia Babtseva, even compared to the 1990s, the country has taken a big step back in this matter.
Due to secrecy and reluctance to report crimes (after all, when contacting law enforcement agencies you will have to tell about yourself), there are no real statistics on crimes against homosexuals. Yulia Babintseva mentioned cases of so-called corrective rape of lesbians in the neighboring region, the Sverdlovsk region - local LGBT activists recorded them during their monitoring (three incidents in two years). The victims spoke briefly about what happened: “I don’t want to talk about it.”
Photo: Timur Abasov To be a feminist means to be “cuckooed”
The participants agreed that everyone can contribute to an atmosphere of tolerance - namely, it will allow representatives of the LGBT community to live more openly. Psychologist Maria Naimushina believes that for this you must, first of all, be honest with yourself.
You have to tell yourself: “Yes, this is terrible, and I’m not ready to condone it,” the expert is sure. - I often come across the opinion: they say, it’s good that I was beaten as a child, that’s why I became who I am. For some time now I have always spoken out in such cases. I say: “They beat you only because you could not answer.” Maybe not always, but they agree with me. In the same category is my reluctance to laugh at certain jokes.
Maria Naimushina Photo: Timur Abasov According to the moderator Anastasia Sechina, the online magazine “Star” has made the LGBT agenda an important part of its content, often writes on these topics, believing that talking about it is extremely important. Daria Vershinina has a similar strategy - she tries to discuss “charged” topics with her students. Due to his professional interest, however, he often speaks about the equality of men and women. She noted that opening up is difficult, but it has its benefits. “For us, to be a feminist means to be “cuckooed,” says Daria Vershinina. “But when I openly declared myself in this way, I immediately found a lot of people who supported me.”
Anastasia Sechina Photo: Timur Abasov Yulia Babintseva said that to the best of their ability and ability, everyone can share their conditional privileges, that is, stand up for another person. “I’m a lesbian,” she said, “but I have privileges like this (she ran her hand near her neck - Ed.) - compared to with a transgender person with a disability. We need to share!”
According to a participant who previously spoke about a fight at the market, teenagers often make homophobic statements not because they really think so, but because in this way they “test the strength of reality” and test the boundaries of what is permitted. And this is an excellent moment to demonstrate an accepting attitude towards others.
One of the participants in the discussion gave an example: a friend, seeing two women on the street clearly holding hands, was perplexed: how to answer her child’s question about this couple? Psychologist Maria Naimushina was surprised at this: why do parents find words to explain to their children the existence of an elderly man in a red fur coat with a beard down to his toes, flying around the world in a sleigh overnight, but at the same time they do not find words to tell how two people can love each other? friend?
Photo: Timur Abasov A young man, Shamshad, spoke about his “experience of acceptance”:
Our class was conservative,” Shamshad recalled. - And we had a hierarchy. One boy was constantly bullied. He wasn't gay, but he looked like one. One day I just talked to him and asked: “What’s wrong with you?” It turned out that he was an ordinary guy and, in fact, had not done anything for which he should be humiliated. Why then was it necessary to do this?
When standing up to defend the rights of homosexuals and transgender people, the main thing is not to do harm, one of the participants shared her thoughts. For example, our society is not ready for gay pride parades and holding them now is like “going for a walk in the forest and intentionally waking up a bear,” the girl believes. According to Yulia Babintseva, any action should not become a provocation, as happened in the case of “parades,” for which capital activist Nikolai Alekseev submitted applications throughout the country. Babintseva believes that the applicant should take responsibility for holding the event; Alekseev had no intention of doing this - neither in Perm, nor, especially, in Chechnya.
Photo: Timur Abasov "We're crazy and that's normal"
In their final remarks, the speakers agreed on one thing: the fewer stereotypes, the better, because the world is beautiful in its diversity, and life is more complex and richer than models and schemes.
We have a lot of clichés,” concluded Daria Vershinina. - For example, about a traditional family - there is an eldest son, a youngest daughter, mom looks after the household, and dad earns money. But how many such examples do you personally know? But we are talking about such families not as a model, but as something that really exists. We must understand that each of us does not belong to the norm in some way. But clichés are convenient; they provide cover for committing violence. Belonging to the standard gives power [and the right to violence] - and this is scary.
We remembered that there are generally a lot of forms of marriage, and some do not accept any of them. That the inability to have biological children distinguishes not only homosexual couples, but also some heterosexual couples. That everything that exists in nature is normal.
What about mutations? - they asked from the audience.
Man appeared as a result of mutation! - Maria Naimushina retorted.
“We are all abnormal in some ways, and that’s normal,” the moderator concluded the discussion.
In which we reported on the mass detentions and murders of residents of Chechnya on charges or mere suspicion of homosexual orientation, it caused a huge resonance. Official representatives of the Chechen Republic routinely spoke about “slander” and the spread of “gossip.” The press secretary of the Ministry of Internal Affairs for the Chechen Republic expressed the opinion that this was “an unsuccessful April Fool’s joke.” Ramzan Kadyrov’s adviser on religious affairs, Adam Shakhidov, accused Novaya Gazeta of “slandering an entire nation,” and the Union of Journalists of Chechnya proposed that “from now on, Novaya Gazeta employees should not be considered journalists.” At the same time, all Chechen officials, deputies, and public figures denied the very fact of the existence of homosexuals among Chechens. And at the same time they stated: there is no place for such people in Chechnya. They don't deserve the right to life at all.
At the same time, call the hotline ( [email protected] ), created by the Russian LGBT Network in coordination with Novaya Gazeta and Russian human rights activists (its contacts were distributed on social networks the day before publication), the first appeals began to arrive. People who were persecuted in Chechnya because of their sexual orientation came into contact through various channels. Someone was able to leave for Europe on their own and is now collecting information from their friends who remained in Chechnya. Someone traveled outside the republic, to Russian cities, and from there contacted us. Someone is still in Chechnya and hiding.
Together with activists from the Russian LGBT Network, we received three testimonies from residents of Chechnya, who told us in person what happened to them. At the moment, all these people and their families are safe outside of Russia. We also received three more stories, the heroes of which either died or are hiding in Chechnya ( the editors have at their disposal voice messages one of those hiding. —E.M.).
All this evidence was obtained at different times, from different people who lived in different regions of Chechnya, had different social status in society and did not know each other. Nevertheless
in all the evidence there are repeating moments that make it possible to reconstruct the chronicle of mass repressions against Chechens suspected of homosexual orientation.
In the previous publication, we relied on information from our sources from the FSB and the Ministry of Internal Affairs for the Chechen Republic. They linked the mass repressions against the Chechen LGBT community with the application for holding gay pride parades in four Caucasian cities, which was submitted by activists of the Internet project GayRussia.ru in early March. However, these statements, which caused a huge negative resonance in the Caucasus, provoked a second wave of repressions.
Because it was the first one.
It began quite “traditionally” for Chechnya. On the 20th of February, a man was detained, who, according to Novaya Gazeta, was in a state of drug intoxication. It must be said that in Chechnya they use the same methods to fight not only terrorists, Salafists and homosexuals, but also drug addicts and even traffic violators: for starters, law enforcement officers examine their phones.
When studying the phone database of a detained drug addict, explicit photographs and videos and dozens of contacts of local homosexuals were found. It was this database that provoked the first wave of arrests and executions. By the time the head of the GayRussia.ru project, Nikolai Alekseev, decided to involve the Caucasus in his all-Russian action, people had already been killed in Chechnya. But the wave itself began to decline. At least,
in one of the secret prisons, which appears in literally all the testimonies of the people we interviewed, at the time of filing a provocative statement from GayRussia.ru activists, those detained on suspicion of homosexuality had already been released. And now the prison is full again.
We received information about a secret prison in the city of Argun from sources in law enforcement agencies a week and a half ago. The prison consists of several buildings that are formally empty. In the 2000s, the military commandant’s office was located here, then the Argun police department was located there. Now the Russian Department of Internal Affairs for the city of Argun has moved to a new location, and the former military commandant’s office (address: Argun, Kadyrov Street, 99b) has become one of the many places of secret detention of people in Chechnya.
Former military commandant's office in Argun
Also, a source from Novaya Gazeta, who is currently in Europe, sent us a photograph depicting police officers. The photo was accompanied by the comment: “these two ( referring to the people in the foreground. — Ed.) began to destroy the first in Argun non-traditional Arnotation guys in the City of Argun" ( Spelling and punctuation of the source have been preserved. — E.M.).
Novaya then found this photo on the Instagram of Ayub Kataev, the head of the Russian Department of Internal Affairs for the city of Argun. Against the background of the Chechen police officers, two are clearly visible: the Speaker of the Chechen Parliament Magomed Daudov (better known by his call sign “Lord”) and the head of the Department of Internal Affairs for Argun himself, Ayub Kataev. The photo was posted on Instagram on March 7.
Magomed Daudov (“Lord”) and the head of the Department of Internal Affairs for Argun Ayub Kataev. Photo: Instagram Ayub Kataev According to our sources, including those who were in the Argun prison, it was “Lord” who was present at the release of the detainees and at the transfer of their relatives.
It is not particularly difficult for investigators to verify the regularity of the Speaker of the Chechen Parliament’s visits to the abandoned former military commandant’s office in February and March. One of the most simple ways(but far from the only one) - penetrate Daudov’s phone through operator base stations mobile communications, whose service includes the address: Kadyrova Street, 99b. An important fact: the Russian Department of Internal Affairs for Argun is now located at a different address and is served by completely different base stations. What was the reason for coming to the old address?
Also, from evidence obtained by Novaya Gazeta and activists of the Russian LGBT Network, it follows that among the detainees there were a large number of “random victims.”
The phones of the detainees were deliberately left on: and all the men who called them (even for a completely innocent reason) immediately fell into the “web” of a mass campaign for the sexual purity of Chechnya.
They were also illegally detained, beaten, electrocuted and, at best, released for a huge ransom. We know of situations where relatives were forced to urgently sell apartments and property in order to save their loved ones.
Unfortunately, not everyone could be saved.
At the moment, Novaya Gazeta knows about three dead. Their deaths are cross-confirmed by numerous testimonies (both from eyewitnesses of the murders and from Novaya’s sources in the law enforcement agencies of Chechnya). There is also information about a potential fourth victim.
Only the Investigative Committee of Russia can find out whether this person is alive or not. But over the years of contacting the Investigative Committee with statements about crimes, we have identified a sad trend: any statement about a crime (which, according to the Law on Mass Media, is automatically any publication, especially one informing about the facts of violent death) is registered by the Investigative Committee of Russia as a complaint and does not conduct any verification .
Taking this into account, we intend to appeal to the Prosecutor General of Russia with a demand oblige Chairman of the Investigative Committee Bastrykin to conduct a check on our publications in accordance with Art. 144-145 Code of Criminal Procedure of the Russian Federation. If Prosecutor General Chaika makes such a demand, the Investigative Committee of Russia will have no opportunity to ignore the law. If the prosecutor does not make such a demand, then there will be a reason to hold him accountable for inaction.
Prosecutor General Yuri Chaika (far left) and Chairman of the Investigative Committee Alexander Bastrykin (right, standing). Photo: RIA Novosti Over the past two years - exactly since the murder of Boris Nemtsov, which the masterminds obviously got away with - mass repressions in Chechnya have become a bad tradition. And every time these repressions become more and more catastrophic in their scale and more and more absurd in their reasons.
The lack of an adequate legal response from federal law enforcement agencies provides legal immunity to the Chechen security forces.
This is the classic “principle of omerta.”
On the other hand, mass repressions are undoubtedly facilitated by the silence of the residents of Chechnya themselves.
However, the campaign against the local LGBT community has a chance of ending the Chechen silence. In recent days, we have received not only a large number of messages to the hotline. But we also saw how people overcome fear because they want to talk about what happened to them. There may be an explanation for this. The fact is that representatives of the LGBT community are different from all other activists and human rights defenders. You can stop being a human rights activist, you can change your political views, you can even change your faith. But you can’t - the color of your skin or your sexual nature. This is why LGBT activists and blacks have become the engine of the human rights movement in America. This is why persecuted homosexuals in Chechnya cease to remain silent.
There is one more circumstance: in Chechnya, any detainee, no matter what sins they arrest him for, always has a chance to stay alive. Everyone, but not homosexuals. As soon as the fact of a particular sexual orientation becomes public, Chechen society itself does not leave them the right to life. People driven into a corner lose their fear.
Elena Milashina
Witnesses say
The editors of Novaya Gazeta, together with the Russian LGBT Network, have developed a security protocol according to which the personal data of surviving witnesses* will never be made public. We will transfer only complete personal data of those killed to the investigation. In this case, the dead will be able to tell more than the living.
Witness 1*
“For several years, law enforcement officers kept me on the hook. They blackmailed me, I paid money to the police: several tens of thousands every month. Payment for silence. They had a video of me filmed on their phone. The cops have provocateurs, usually drug addicts who have been caught. In exchange for freedom and silence, they agree to cooperate, to set up people—more and more “clients” who can be blackmailed. In the republic, this is a profitable business for police officers. And many cops have a similar “clientele”; they themselves are not interested in giving out names and surnames even to their bosses - they will lose money.
Despite the tribute, from time to time I was taken to the department, beaten, tortured with electric shock, mocked and humiliated. They wanted me to name the names of other gays. After the beatings, I stayed with friends for a day or two so that the bruises would fade a little, only then I returned home and told my family that I had been in a fight. This went on for two years.
I have an ordinary family, many relatives. For a long time I didn’t want to put up with the fact that I was gay, I thought that it was a disease and that if you fight it, you can overcome it in yourself. I wanted a family. Got married. I was sure that it would pass with time. Leave the republic ( in order to lead an open lifestyle. — Ed.) I didn’t want to - I was scared for my relatives. In case of publicity, the shame will fall on them. But at some point I couldn’t stand the bullying, gave up everything and ran away to Moscow. I was thinking about starting new life. In order to somehow protect myself, I wrote a statement to the Ministry of Internal Affairs and the prosecutor's office that I was being persecuted by police officers in Chechnya, systematically beaten and blackmailed. In Moscow they refused to even accept my statements - they said: “You figure it out for yourself there. We will not interfere." A few months after my escape, I was found in Moscow. Beaten up. They began to demand money again. I wanted to commit suicide. I didn’t hang myself only because there were people who helped me leave the country. Now I go to a psychologist and understand that I shouldn’t have done this earlier.
We have never had such persecution of gays as is happening at home now. It started on the 20th of February. The police caught one guy under "Lyrica" ( anticonvulsant tablets based on the substance pregabalin. Causes euphoria, popular among drug addicts. — I.G.), got into his phone, and there was a porn gallery, videos, a lot of contacts, correspondence with other gays. All this reached the “Lord”, he became furious. Based on these contacts, mass arrests began. People were taken from work, from home, even if the person was simply unlucky to be listed in the phone book. A chain reaction began.
“The detainees were tortured, put on a bottle, and given electric shocks. Some were beaten half to death and returned to their relatives like a bag of bones. I know for sure about two deaths...”
If you are kidnapped, there are three ways to get out of there: pay a lot of money - I heard about a sum of one and a half million, or hand over others. Or they can hand it over to relatives themselves. They give it away with the comment “figure it out yourself.” Most of those who managed to get out run away and hide.”
Witness 2*
“The area where I was taken looks abandoned, but it’s not. It is more like a closed prison, the existence of which no one officially knows. In the next room sat “Syrians” - guys who were suspected of having connections with those fighting in Syria, or their relatives, or those who foolishly went to Syria, became disillusioned and fled home. They sit there for years. Those who are taken on drugs are still in prison. There are different drugs, but mainly the psychotropic drug “Lyrica”; their use in the republic is severely punished.
There were several dozen of us, and the number was constantly changing, some were released, then new ones were brought in. We sat in a large stone room with other prisoners. In this room we were allocated a small piece in the corner, about two by three meters, beyond which we had no right to go. They sat like that for days, weeks, some for months. Three times a day we were taken to the toilet - a separate room on the street.
Also, several times a day we were taken out and beaten - it was called interrogation, prevention, development - whatever you want. Their main task was to find out your circle of contacts. They think that if you are taken on suspicion, automatically your entire circle of contacts are gay. That is why our phones were not turned off after the seizure: they were waiting for someone to write or call. Any man who calls or writes during this time is already a new prey. Most often, these people were called back and fraudulently invited to a meeting under some pretext.
They hooked wires from a stun gun onto our hands and turned the handle of a dynamo, generating a current. It hurts. I endured as long as I could, then lost consciousness and fell. When the current is generated and the body begins to shake, you stop thinking and start screaming. All the time you sit and hear the screams of people being tortured.
Hematomas recorded after release from prison As soon as a person is brought into the territory, torture begins immediately. Current, beating polypropylene pipes. They always beat us only from the waist down - legs, thighs, buttocks, lower back. They said that we are “dogs who have no right to live.” We forced other prisoners to mock us. They have been sitting there for years, most of them have already lost hope of release. And they don't have much choice. We understood.
They also beat us with sticks. We were placed in two rows opposite each other, several dozen people. They gave out sticks like bats. And everyone passed through this system. It’s hard to bear three or four sticks, it’s very painful, but when you go through twenty, not everyone can bear it. I didn't know how to deal with the pain, although I always thought I had high pain threshold. To stop the pain, I began to gnaw my hands until they bled, as a counterbalance to the torture. And it helped.
Some were beaten with particular passion. There was one person, he was especially tortured, he sat there longer than us, he was absolutely broken, he was beaten so much that there were open wounds on his body. He was given to his relatives, and after some time it became known that he had been buried.
In addition to physical torture, they mocked and humiliated them mentally: they insulted them, forced them to clean the territory, and spitting in the face was a common occurrence. And they emphasized all the time - you are no longer residents, everyone has abandoned you, they won’t let you out! Every day they brought in more and more new people - “interrogations”, accidental phone calls provoked new arrests.
After several weeks, when people had already been reduced to an animal state, relatives were called. Those who agreed and came were also humiliated separately, and then they handed the person over.”
Recorded itIrina Gordienko
Messages to the hotline 03/29/2017—04/02/2017
Messages received by the hotline of the Russian LGBT Network [email protected] , organized to help the residents of Chechnya. Message submission period: March 29 - April 2.All stories are published with the consent of the informants.
1.
A young man from Grozny, gay. I arrived a couple of months ago in the city of NN ( city name hidden to ensure source security — Editor's note). I wanted to settle here and stay, but I couldn’t find a job and planned to return to Chechnya in mid-March. I tried to contact a friend, but the friend did not answer. He got in touch only a week later and said that he had just been released<чеченские>security forces. He was detained on suspicion of homosexuality. Trying to extract a confession, they beat him with a hose and tortured him with electric shock ( connected the terminals to the hands — Note ed.). He said that at the time of his stay, the security forces were holding about 30 people in the same room. According to the security forces themselves, the command to detain came from the leadership of the republic. Detainees were forced to hand over contact information of other gay men. Moreover, the more a person reported, the longer he was kept.
2.
Another person who turned to the hotline for help said that his friend ( data that allows you to confidently identify this person, will be handed over to the investigation -Note ed.) was also detained on suspicion of homosexual orientation. The reason is correspondence on the VKontakte network. Late in the evening, a black Toyota Camry with no license plates pulled up to his house. People in the uniform of the Terek SOBR detachment imprisoned young man into the car and taken away in an unknown direction, without telling the family anything about the reasons for the detention. The young man was held for several days and tortured. Relatives were able to establish the place of illegal detention of their loved one. The father was promised that his son would be shown in disgrace on local television and released. The young man was actually released, but under what conditions is unknown. His further fate is also unknown. It is only known that he never left Chechnya.
3.
An anonymous source reported to the hotline that he was detained and witnessed mass torture of suspected homosexuals in the commandant's office in an abandoned concrete barracks near the city of Argun. He himself was detained on February 28. There were 15 other people in the barracks with him, among whom were a well-known stylist and television presenter in Chechnya. The detainees were beaten and subjected to electric shocks. The photographs provided by the source show extensive hematomas of the legs and lower back. The detainees were practically not fed. They were often beaten to death. March 5 of a young man NN ( personal data is known and will be passed on to the investigation — Note ed.) was taken from the commandant's office by his father and brother.
Relatives handcuffed him and took him away in a white car in an unknown direction. He did not return home.
The rest of the detainees were told: “If you have men in your family, they will also kill you like NN.” The anonymous source himself was released on March 7 (he did not explain the conditions of his release, he only said that in the Chechen Republic he was officially considered dead). The source was able to leave the territory of Chechnya with his family. Currently located outside of Russia.
In Chechnya, mass arrests of men suspected of homosexuality are taking place in various localities, some of whom are killed, Novaya Gazeta reported today. In the Chechen special services, according to the publication, this is called a “preventive cleansing” in connection with the plans of LGBT activists to hold actions in the North Caucasus. The publication provoked a sharp reaction from the Chechen authorities, who stated that if there were gays in the region, their relatives would have dealt with them.
“Among the detainees are representatives of the Chechen muftiate, including well-known, influential religious figures close to the head of the republic, as well as two well-known Chechen TV presenters,” writes April 1 in his publication “Honor Killing” in Novaya Gazeta. Elena Milashina . - Of course, all these people in no way demonstrated their special sexual orientation - in the Caucasus this is tantamount to a death sentence. However, in traditional Chechen society, whose members have extremely short social distances, this kind of thing is quickly recognized, no matter how hard you hide it.”
These people in no way demonstrated their special sexual orientation - in the Caucasus this is tantamount to a death sentence
According to the publication, the detentions began after activists of the GayRussia movement announced their intention to hold gay pride parades in several cities of the Caucasus. During the mass persecution of men on suspicion of non-traditional sexual orientation, more than 100 people have already been detained, at least three of them were killed, writes the author of the publication with reference to "b “an unprecedentedly large number of sources,” including the Ministry of Internal Affairs, the FSB Directorate, the prosecutor’s office and the administration of the head of Chechnya.
“Residents of Chechnya who have become victims of persecution - even on mere suspicion of non-traditional sexual orientation - have extremely little chance of surviving,” Novaya Gazeta claims. “It is enough for the family to inform about the reason for the detention, and relatives will not file complaints with official authorities, and the facts of detention and even murder of their loved ones will be carefully concealed.”
In Chechnya they reacted sharply: there cannot be gays there
However, the press secretary of the head of Chechnya Ramzan Kadyrov Alvi Karimov called Milashina’s publication “an absolute lie and disinformation” and “an attempt to denigrate the Chechen Republic.” “You cannot detain and oppress someone who simply is not in the republic,” Interfax quotes Karimov as saying. “If there were such people in Chechnya, law enforcement agencies would not have any worries with them, since their relatives themselves would send them to the address , from where they do not return."
The relatives themselves would send them to an address from which they do not return
He also pointed out that the publication does not indicate specific people, but only “certain sources.” “If in the law enforcement agencies of the republic - the Ministry of Internal Affairs, the prosecutor's office and so on - there are people who whisper something, afraid to identify themselves, they are not men, but an empty place,” Karimov said.
Member of the Council under the Head of Chechnya for the Development of Civil Society and Human Rights Kheda Saratova stated that the persecution of gay people is not condemned in Chechen society. According to her, " even if such a person is killed by his own relatives,” law enforcement agencies and the judicial system “will also treat with understanding what happened in this family,” reports “Moscow Speaks.” “They will not particularly rock the boat and defend this person. I haven’t received a single statement, but I wouldn’t even consider it,” she said.
Head of the press service of the Ministry of Internal Affairs for Chechnya Magomed Deniev , in turn, stated that he knew nothing about the arrests. “Maybe this is an April Fool’s joke? We did not give such information to Novaya Gazeta,” RBC quotes Deniev.
Failed LGBT actions in the Caucasus
The intensification of the protest mood regarding sexual minorities began in the North Caucasus in early March. The "Caucasian Knot" wrote that activists submitted notices of holding actions as part of the all-Russian LGBT action in a number of cities in southern Russia, including Nalchik, Stavropol, Cherkessk and Maykop. In these four cities, authorities refused to approve the protests.
On March 13, the initiators of the actions stated that they began to receive threatening messages and phone calls after submitting a notice to hold a march in support of the rights of the LGBT community in Nalchik. The action in the capital of Kabardino-Balkaria was intended for 300 people, but the authorities refused to approve it, citing the event as “contradictory to the traditional family values of the region’s residents.” The Investigative Committee is now checking a complaint from the organizer of an LGBT rally in Nalchik regarding threats received.
Earlier, on December 1, 2016, Tomsk blogger Alexander Sidorov was attacked in Makhachkala, who held a one-man picket in defense of the rights of the LGBT community. The beaten blogger told the "Caucasian Knot" that the police they did not want to accept his statement about the attack and insulted him.
There were situations when relatives of people who were suspected of homosexuality were forced to urgently sell apartments and property in order to save their loved ones.
Thus we managed to get testimony of three people who spoke about what happened to them after their arrest. It is noted that the statements that were published by the publication earlier caused a huge negative resonance in the Caucasus, provoking a second wave of repressions, because there was also a first one. According to information, on the 20th of February a man was detained who was in a state of drug intoxication. In Chechnya, law enforcement officers for starters research phone database detainees. The detainee was found in possession of explicit photographs and videos and dozens of contacts of local homosexuals. It was this database that provoked the first wave of arrests and reprisals.
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In particular, all testimonies contain information about secret prison in the city of Argun. It has several buildings that are formally abandoned. Information about this secret prison can be found in the 2010 report of the Council of Europe Commissioner for Human Rights, Thomas Hammamberg. In addition, among those detained were a large number of "random victims". The devices of the detainees were deliberately left turned on: and all the men who called them immediately fell into the “web” of a mass campaign for the sexual purity of Chechnya.
They were also illegally detained, beaten, tortured with electric shocks and, at best, released for a huge ransom. There were situations when relatives were forced to urgently sell apartments and property in order to save their loved ones.
Thus, the Novaya Gazeta publication published the testimony of witnesses and those who called the hotline regarding the mass persecution of homosexuals in Chechnya.
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According to the first of them, for several years law enforcement officers kept him “on the hook”, blackmailed him, and he paid several tens of thousands to the police to keep them silent. He noted that there are provocateurs among the Chechen police who, in exchange for freedom and silence, agree to cooperate and set people up. Despite the tribute, from time to time he was taken to the department, beaten, tortured with electric shock, mocked and humiliated. They wanted him to name the names of other gays.
“We have never had such persecution of gays, which is happening now at home. It started in the 20th of February. The police caught one guy on Lyrica (anticonvulsant pills based on the substance pregabalin. Causes euphoria, popular among drug addicts - Ed .), got into his phone, and there was a porn gallery, videos, a lot of contacts, correspondence with other gays. Through these contacts. mass detentions began. People were taken from work, from home, even if the person was simply unlucky to be listed in the phone book. A chain reaction began. The detainees were tortured, put on a bottle, and given electric shocks.. Some were beaten half to death and returned to their relatives like a bag of bones. I I know for sure about two deaths..." he admitted.
According to another witness, the area where he was taken looked like a closed prison, the existence of which no one officially knows.