Police van in central Baku, September 2017. Image still via Euro Vision Social Newswire / YouTube. Some rights reserved.
In late September Azerbaijan’s police force began rounding up LGBT people, and those perceived to be such, across the country. On 2 October, police released all detainees, while admitting that 83 had been detained (LGBT rights activists estimate their number at 150-200). The events led to widespread international condemnation, but this story isn’t over — not least for the young men and women whose lives may never be the same.
In the weeks since the crackdown, several LGBT people have either left the capital of Baku, or fled the country altogether (reportedly to Russia and Turkey). Harassment of LGBT people continued into October in the country’s second-largest city of Ganja. After detaining and strip-searching LGBT people, local police “warned [gay and transgender people] to leave the city, where they are not wanted” alleged Minority, the country’s only LGBT magazine, in a tweet on 14 October.
