As earlier reported, it appears that that Chechnya is ramping back up the intensity of its gay purge. A recent report found that 40 LGBTQ people have been detained in the Russian territory and two are reported as dead.
But thankfully, the Russian LGBT Network is already working to help those in need.
The Russian LGBT Network is an LGBTQ rights organization that helped several Chechen people escape from persecution and genocide since the purge was first reported.
Now, the organization says that it’s working to rescue the reported victims from December.
Igor Kochetkov, the executive director of the Russian LGBT Network, says that "the information sources reported that the new wave of detentions started in the end of December 2018. Now we know that they started to detain already in the beginning of the month. Moreover, now we know that there are a few places where people suspected of being homosexual are detained. One of them is the police office of Zavodskoy district of Grozny. Once again, it proves that all the detentions, tortures and murders are committed by the law enforcement officers.”
The Russian LGBT Network also confirmed reports of increased violence and torture for LGBTQ citizens in the country. This includes the extension of persecution to women and not just men. The prisoners are then bullied with acts like being forced to crossdress while officers call them names and being sodomized by an electric shock stick.
“They did not feed us. Sometimes they gave us some water, dirty water that was left after mopping. They gave us clean water only for prayer,” – one of the survivors says.
Now that the Russian LGBT Network has a better idea of where victims are being held, they have a better chance of rescuing them. (Though, perhaps announcing rescue efforts will make their plans backfire).
No matter what, we’ll keep you updated on the situation in Chechnya.
