Chechnya pressed to halt violence against gays
United Nations experts demanded on Thursday that Chechnya halt the abduction, detention, beating and killing of gay and bisexual men, after weeks of reports about violent repression there.
“These are acts of persecution and violence on an unprecedented scale in the region, and constitute serious violations of the obligations of the Russian Federation under international human rights law,” the panel of five experts, which advises the U.N. Human Rights Council, said in a statement.
The experts noted that much of the abuse is reported to have taken place at an unofficial detention center near Argun, a town about 12 miles east of Grozny, the Chechen capital.
“The arrested men are subjected to physical and verbal abuse, torture including with electric shocks, beatings, insults and humiliations,” the experts wrote. “They are forced to give contact details of other gay people and threatened with having their sexual orientation disclosed to their family and community — a move which could put them at risk of ‘honor killings.’ ”
Since last month, reports have circulated within Russia that local militias and security forces have been hunting down, detaining and abusing men they perceived to be gay or bisexual. On April 1, a leading opposition newspaper, Novaya Gazeta, confirmed those reports, citing Russian federal law enforcement officials, who blamed local authorities.
Dozens of men are said to have been rounded up, but precise numbers — including a death toll — are not available.
The Kremlin’s spokesman, Dmitri S. Peskov, said on April 3 that he could not confirm the newspaper’s account, but added: “This is something for law enforcement to deal with. This is not on the Kremlin’s agenda.”