Akhmad Kadyrov Mosque, Grozny. CC Gregor Winter / Flickr. Some rights reserved.This week, five people were detained in Moscow for trying to deliver a petition signed by two million people regarding the persecution of gay men in Chechnya. Evidence from Chechen men about secret prisons, torture and murders in the North Caucasus has sent shock waves through international and domestic public opinion. The Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) has passed a strong resolution on a Report on “Human Rights in the North Caucasus” and, earlier this month, President Vladimir Putin supported Ombudsperson Tatiana Moskalkova’s proposal to create a special task force to examine Chechen gay men’s complaints that their rights have been violated.
I spoke to several gay men who have now fled Chechnya about bribery, secret meetings and their plans to return home.
Arrests, beatings, flight
In February this year, Aidamir (all names have been changed) was detained during an ID check at one of the many police roadblocks on the outskirts of Grozny, Chechnya’s capital. “They looked at my ID, and threw me head first onto the floor of the van. Nothing was explained, but I immediately realised what was happening. I’d had warnings about roundups from friends,” he tells me.
