Putin orders investigation into torture of Chechen gays

VLADIMIR PUTIN has ordered an investigation into reports of a murderous campaign of arrests and torture against homosexual men in Chechnya, days after Angela Merkel called on him to act.

In his first public comments on the issue, Mr Putin (pictured right) told Tatiana Moskalkova, Russia’s human rights ombudsman, that he would ask the country’s chief prosecutor and interior minister to co-operate with her inquires into what has been described as a “purge” of Chechnya’s gay community.

“Of course, I will have a talk with the general prosecutor and interior minister so they support you on the topic that you have raised on information, or rumours, we might say, about what is happening to sexual minorities in the North Caucasus,” Mr Putin said.

Mr Putin’s intervention came after Mrs Merkel, the German chancellor, urged him to investigate reports of detention, torture and murder of men suspected of being gay in the largely Muslim republic in Russia’s south.

The foreign ministers of Britain, France, Germany, the Netherlands and Sweden also sent a joint letter to Sergey Lavrov, their Russian counterpart, expressing concern.

Russian newspaper ‘Novaya Gazeta’ reported that police in Chechnya have rounded up more than 100 men suspected of homosexuality, at least three of whom were killed.

Chechen leader Ramzan Kadyrov recently denied that any homosexuals had been arrested and dismissed the media reports during an exchange with Mr Putin, according to Russian news agencies. (©Daily Telegraph, London)