Five people detained as they tried to submit a petition calling for an inquiry into a violent crackdown on gay people in the southern Russian republicFive LGBT activists were detained in Moscow on Thursday while trying to submit a petition signed by two million people calling for an investigation into the torture and persecution of gay men in Chechnya.
A violent crackdown on gay people in the region was first reported in the newspaper Novaya Gazeta final month. It alleged more than 100 Chechen men suspected of being gay had been rounded up,and at least three killed. The Guardian independently spoke to gay Chechen men who gave accounts of beatings and torture in the ultra-conservative, predominantly Muslim southern Russian republic. Related: Chechens command of prison beatings and electric shocks in anti-gay purge: ‘They called us animals’ Related: In macho Chechnya, or being gay is an act of intolerable rebellion Continue reading...
Source: theguardian.com