Russian persecution of gays kills

After being kidnapped or lured by Russian authorities into gay concentration camps, hundreds of homosexual men in Chechnya, Russia are beaten, electrocuted and emotionally abused or forced to perform quasi-sexual acts. Little is being done to stop them, and more action is needed to shut down the camps.

This has been the first report of gay people being held captive in camps since the Holocaust. Ramzan A. Kadyrov, Head of the Chechnya Republic, and Alvi Karimov, Kadyrov’s spokesman, are denying all accusations of crimes committed against their people.

Karimov said the reports of an anti-gay program had to be false because such men did not exist in Chechnya.

“You cannot detain and persecute people who simply do not exist in the republic,” Kadyrov said in an interview with Interfax news agency in April.

Men who have escaped or have been released from the camps say authorities are torturing people in old military and police buildings. Russian LGBT activists tried to raise awareness on May Day by holding a demonstration in St. Petersburg, but the 10 protesters were detained by the police, according to a May article on Independent.

Homosexual men in Chechnya keep their sexual orientation hidden from the community and their families and communicate under alias names in secret online chat rooms. The Russian authorities began hacking these chat rooms to capture the men.

Men are being tortured and starved until they give the names of other gay men. The number of deaths has not been confirmed. This attack on sexual orientation is making men fear for their life in public and at home.

“If my family finds out that I’m gay, then no authorities, no troops are needed,” said Ahmed, a man released from the Chechnya camp, according to CNN. “They will kill me themselves.”
Small protests will not stop Kadyrov and his followers who deny homosexuality even exists in their country. Greater action must be taken to put an end to the camps.

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