Tag Archives: gay purge

Chechnya General Who Led Country’s “Gay Purge” KILLED in Ukraine War.

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It has been reported that Chechen general Magomed Tusayan was killed on Saturday during fighting in the Ukraine. . Tusayan was responsible for leading the anti-gay purge in that country that led to torturing and murdering of hundreds of gay men and other memeber of the LBT community.

Both the Pakistani Times and a defense reporter for The Kyiv Independent, confirmed: “Magomed Tushayev, one of Ramzan Kadyrov’s top warlords, has been killed in action in Hostomel. Ukraine’s elite Alpha Group is reportedly fighting Chechens in the airfield.”

Since 2017, Chechen security operatives and other officials in the Kadyrov regime, including Tushayev sources confirmed, have rounded up countless numbers of men on suspicion of being gay, held them in unofficial detention facilities for days, humiliated, starved and tortured, and in some cases murdered them in what is dubbed Chechnya’s ‘anti-gay purge,”

One former detainee said that the torturers showed him a graphic video of a suspected terrorist having a plastic pipe inserted into his anus and then barbed wire forced into the pipe and ripped out of his rectum. The torturers videotaped the torture, showed it to a gay man and revealed that they had brought a similar plastic pipe and barb wire to use on him. The man then confessed, revealing his gay associates to avoid a similar fate.

Russian singer Zelimkhan Bakaev  an early victim was arrested, tortured, and murdered by Chechen authorities due to suspicion of homosexuality.”

His body has still not been found.

The United States FINALLY Publicly Condemns Chechnya's Deadly Gay Purge And It Only Took 3 Years

The United States FINALLY Publicly Condemns Chechnya’s Deadly Gay Purge And It Only Took 3 Years

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It may have taken over 3 years but the United States Government has FINALLY publicly condemned Chechnya leader Ramzan Kadyrov for the horrific human rights abuses against gay/bi men and lesbians that have left many jailed, tortured, and murdered.

Today, the Department of State is publicly designating Ramzan Kadyrov, head of the Chechen Republic of the Russian Federation, under Section 7031(c) of the Department of State, Foreign Operations, and Related Programs Appropriations Act, 2020.  This designation is due to Kadyrov’s involvement in gross violations of human rights in the Chechen Republic.  The Department has extensive credible information that Kadyrov is responsible for numerous gross violations of human rights dating back more than a decade, including torture and extrajudicial killings….

Today’s action serves to notify Mr. Kadyrov that his involvement in gross violations of human rights has consequences, both for him and his family, and that the United States is committed to using all the tools at our disposal to ensure accountability for those who engage in this abhorrent behavior

In 2018 the United States Congress did pass a bipartisan resolution condemning the anti-gay persecution and violence in Chechnya but the Trump administration has remained silent on the human rights violations and while countries like Canada and the Netherlands have granted asylum to the persecuted LGBT refugees, the United States has not.

Chechnya's Murderous Anti-Gay Purge Leader Gets COVID-19

Chechnya’s Murderous Anti-Gay Purge Leader Gets COVID-19

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Via ABC News:

Russian state news agencies have reported that Ramzan Kadyrov, the authoritarian leader of Russia’s southern region of Chechnya, has been transported to a Moscow hospital with suspected COVID-19 symptoms.

“Ramzan Kadyrov has been flown to Moscow with suspected coronavirus. He is currently being monitored by doctors,” an unidentified source in the Moscow medical community told Tass agency, adding that Kadyrov’s condition is “stable.”

Kadyrov, 43, has run predominantly Muslim Chechnya with an iron fist since 2007. The Kremlin has relied on him to keep the North Caucasus region stable after two devastating separatist wars. International rights groups have accused Kadyrov’s feared security forces of extrajudicial killings, torture and abductions of dissenters

Since 2007,. Kadyrov’s rule has been characterised by high-level corruption, a poor human rights record, widespread use of torture, the murder of homosexuals and a growing cult of personality.

Since 2017, Kadyrov has led a murderous campaign against Chechen gays and lesbians saying that gays are “inhuman devils” and that Chechnya must “purify our blood” of their presence. At least 100 gay men are believed to have been tortured and a unknown killed by Kadyrov’s vigilantes including Chechen pop star Zelimkhan Bakaev.

Thoughts and prayers you murderous motherfucker. Thoughts and prayers.

Russia Claims It Can’t Find Any Evidence of Chechnya's ‘gay purge’

Russia Claims It Can’t Find Any Evidence of Chechnya’s ‘gay purge’

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Russia’s justice minister Alexander Konovalov told United Nations representatives on Monday that the countries investigation of the “gay purge” in Chechnya had turned up no evidence to support the claim.

Speaking before the UN’s Human Rights Council, Konovalov said officials had taken the allegations seriously and looked into them.

“The investigation showed that there were not any such incidents,” he said.

“There weren’t even representatives of LGBTI in Chechnya. We weren’t able to find anyone.”

LGBT groups claimed that at least 200 gay people were held in secret prisons where they were tortured and beaten. At least 26 were said to have been killed. Among those missing and presumed dead is Russian pop singer Zelimkhan Bakaev, who went missing in August 2017.

The news of these crimes against humanity were initially reported in of April 2017 in Novaya Gazeta, a Russian-newspaper, which reported that over 100 men had allegedly been detained and tortured and at least three had died in an extrajudicial killing. The paper, citing its sources in the Chechen special services, called the wave of detentions a “prophylactic sweep”. The journalist who first reported on the subject has gone into hiding. and there were calls for reprisals against journalists who report on the situation.

The Chechen police and military conducted entrapment schemes, in which a victim is lured on a date, beaten and humiliated. A recording is produced, and blackmail money is solicited in return for silence. Law enforcement agencies in Chechnya already keep lists of “suspects”. According to a source from Radio Liberty, raids on gays began in December 2016, subsided briefly, and resumed on a large scale in February 2017. The first gay men who were detained via entrapment were tortured in attempts to reveal the names of their acquaintances.

According to escapees interviewed in the Novaya Gazeta and the British-owned The Guardian, 30 to 40 people are detained in one room (two to three meters big), and often kept for months on end without trial. Witnesses report they are also beaten (with polypropylene pipes below the waist), and tortured with electricity. In addition to physical torture, individuals report being mocked, humiliated and insulted, as well as being forced to clean the prison and spat in the face. In some cases the process of torture ended in the death of the person being tortured.

Canada, Germany, France and Belgium are among countries to have granted asylum to gay Chechens on the basis that they would have faced persecution and possibly death if they stayed.

 

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Boxer Floyd Mayweather Befriends Anti-Gay Murdering Chechnya Leader Ramzan Kadyrov – Video

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Boxer Floyd Mayweather Befriends Anti-Gay Murdering Chechnya Leader Ramzan Kadyrov - Video

 

Via TMZ:

Floyd Mayweather has a new member of The Money Team — Chechen leader Ramzan Kadyrov … an alleged violent warlord who unapologetically hates gay people.

Floyd met up with Kadyrov during a recent trip to Chechnya — buddying up with Kadyrov and urging his fans to follow Ramzan on Instagram.

Ramzan is responsible for the horrible anti-gay purge in Chechnya that has led to hundreds of gay men being held in detention, being  tortured, and executions his country.

When HBO’s Real Sports recently went to Chechnya to report on the country’s  Mixed Martial Arts program this is Kadyrov replied when asked about the “gay purge”: 

“This is nonsense. We don’t have those kinds of people here. We don’t have any gays. If there are any take them to Canada. Praise be to God. Take them far from us so we don’t have them at home. To purify our blood, if there are any here take them.

“They are devils. They are for sale. They are not people. God damn them for what they are accusing us of. They will have to answer to the Almighty for this.”

In June the U.S. House of Representatives unanimously passed a resolution condemning the violence and persecution against gay men in Chechnya, On October 30, 2017 the U.S. Senate followed suit.

S. Res. 211 “calls on Chechen officials to immediately cease the abduction, detention, and torture of individuals on the basis of their actual or suspected sexual orientation, and hold accountable all those involved in perpetrating such abuses.” It also calls on the U.S. government to “continue to condemn the violence and persecution in Chechnya.”

 The Canadian federal government has been secretly spiriting gay Chechen men from Russia to Canada, under a clandestine program.  About a third of those who were being sheltered in Russian safe houses – are now in Toronto and other Canadian cities

Sources estimate that Chechen authorities have rounded up and detained, tortured and in some cases have murdered  hundreds of gay men in secret prisons including the recent revelation that Russian pop-singer  Zelimkhan Bakaev was arrested, tortured and then murdered for being gay. 

His body at the writing of this post  has still not been found.

 

 

 

 

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Gay Chechnya Refugee Who Disappeared For Months Now Claims Anti-Gay Purge Is A Lie

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A gay male refugee from Chechnya has gone on state TV months after mysteriously disappearing to say sorry for being a ‘disgrace’ to the republic for claiming that he had been threatened and blackmailed in Chechnya after coming out as gay.

The story of Movsar Eskerhanov began when the kidnappers forced the young man to confess to sexual orientation in the camera due to the fact that Eskerhanov could not pay them 200 thousand rubles, which the criminals requested for not showing the video to anyone.  The kidnappers posted the video and the young man was forced to flee in Stavropol Krai, and then in Moscow. Eskerhanov later went to Germany to request political asylum because of the history

Movsar Eskerhanov told TIME magazine earlier this year that he feared for his life in the country which has arrested and tortured over 200 people have this year alone for being gay with some other men missing to never be seen again and who are presumed dead.

Eskerhanov remained at a German refugee camp where other Chechens recognized him and attacked him.

Later he was refused asylum by the German government.

Not long after that Eskerhanov mysteriously disappeared for months until earlier this week, when he resurfaced on state television for an investigation by Chechen government-controlled news network Grozny on the countries anti-gay purge.

Suddenly, Eskerhanov claims that he was set up by the media and framed to say he was gay before claiming that his coming out was made under the effects of epilepsy medication.

He said: “They disgraced me before the Chechen people and the Chechen leader, I was framed. That’s why I apologize to the residents of Chechnya, the leadership of Chechnya, the Chechens living in the North Caucasus and Europe.”

Chechens who criticize the republic’s leader, Ramzan Kadyrov, are routinely forced to give televised apologies, leading many to surmise that Eskerhanov disappearance was in fact a reprogramming  detention with torture and threats and that his apology was coerced and  that he is doing it to keep his family safe and himself alive.

Below is the recently aired interview in its original language.  If anyone can translate it please post in the comment section below.

 

 

 

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Russia Claims It Can’t Find Any Evidence of Chechnya's ‘gay purge’

Voices4Chechnya Protests Russian Consulate in NYC Demands Answers About Missing Chechen Pop Star Zelimkhan Bakaev

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On Tuesday, November 7th, the group Voices For Chechnya protested outside the Russian Consulate in NYC, demanding  an immediate investigation into the disappearance of Chechen pop star Zelimkhan Bakaev.

As reported here last month multiple sources claim that Russian singer Zelimkhan Bakaev was arrested, tortured, and murdered by by Chechen authorities due to suspicion of homosexuality.”

Bakaev was last seen on August 8 in Grozny, where he had come from Moscow for his sister’s wedding and has not been seen since.

Via Press Release:

Voices 4 Chechnya’s action began at Central Park where they marched to the Russian Consulate on 91st Street at 1pm. Approximately 50 activists assembled outside the consulate. Voices 4 Chechnya activists held large signs with portraits of Zelimkhan Bakaev, as well as a banner which asked, “Where is Zelimkhan Bakaev?” Chants included “No Murder, No Hate, Russia Investigate, Gays In Chechnya Can Not Wait” and “When Gay Chechens Are Under Attack, What Do We Do, Stand Up Fight Back”.

Voices 4 Chechnya believes that non-violent, direct action activism is integral to the fight for human dignity and equality for all. And everyone, no matter who they are or whom they love, is entitled to live without fear. We will not stand by as the Chechen Republic orders and encourages the capture, torture, and death of its own LGBTQ+ people.

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Since you’re here …

We have a favor to ask. Unlike many other LGBT blogs and news sites, we haven’t installed intrusive ads– nor do we follow the typical LGBT media PR stream. We want to keep our journalism and historical reporting as open and honest as we can. So you can see why we need to ask for your help. Back2Stonewall’s independent voice takes a lot of time, money and hard work to produce most of which comes from out own pockets.  We do it because we believe our perspective and integrity matters.

If you can please help us with a small donation to cover the sites expenses and evolution it would be greatly appreciated.  Just go to our GoFundMe page by CLICKING HERE. 

Any donation no matter how small will help us continue our important work.

 

Chechnya Resumes It’s Purge and Detentions of Gay Men

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Russian activists are claiming that Chechen authorities have re-started the arrest and detention of gay and are following-up on a earlier “gay purge” this year.

The Russian LGBT Network and says it has received more calls from Chechnya in the last 72 hours. And it says they contained credible evidence that arrests are happening again.

Chechnya’s leader, Ramzan Kadyrov, has denied that the purges have taken place. A spokesperson claimed in April that reports were ‘absolute lies and disinformation’ and there were no gay men in Chechnya.

Former detainees gave harrowing accounts of their treatment in the report.

‘It was like a chain. They get one person, go through his phone, torture him, make him name some others… In the place where I was held, we were four [gay men] at first, but several days later we were already 20.’

Igor Kochetkov of the Russian LGBT Network describes how his network sees the ‘first hand the pain and suffering’ those who have survived the ‘horrors’ are facing.

‘Russia is failing in its responsibility to allow its own citizens to live in safety and has also failed to hold anyone to account for the appalling abuses that have already taken place.

Two camps were initially reported on three months ago, based in the villages of Argun and Tsotsi-Yurt, but further investigations revealed a further four jails for gay people, bringing the total number believed to be in the Chechen Republic up to six.

European leaders Angela Merkel and Emmanuel Macron have both raised the issue publicly during meetings with Vladimir Putin, and the UK government has also expressed concerns.

Donald Trump who met with Vladamir Putin yesterday at the G20 summit has been silent on the atrocities.

Sir Ian McKellen Protests at Russian Embassy in London Over Chechnya “Gay Purge’

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Openly gay actor Sir Ian McKellen joined hundreds of protesters outside the Russian embassy in London to voice anger against a “purge” of gay men in Chechnya.

McKellen described it as “a matter of principle” to demonstrate outside the Kensington Gardens consulate on Friday to demand that Moscow takes decisive action against those responsible for the brutal persecution.

Despite international condemnation, Chechen and Russian authorities have denied the accusations, according to Amnesty International. A Chechen spokesman even refuted that gay people even lived in the region.

Condemning the stance of Chechen authorities on gay people, McKellen said: “It is possible to think that gay people don’t exist because gay people are so frightened that they daren’t say they exist.

“What a condemnation it is of Chechnya that its authorities should believe that there are no gay people there, and if there were they shouldn’t be – it’s absolutely appalling.

“If gay people are invisible it’s because they are frightened to be themselves and come out, so it’s a condemnation not of gay people but the society they are trying to exist in.”

“Our principles are shared across borders, and the plight of the gay men in Chechnya is the plight of gay men and women throughout Russia.”

Reading a message from the Russian LGBT network to the crowd, he said: “Right now we need you to demand justice, we need you to tell your governments to take action, we need you to accept refugees, we need you to call for a transparent and just investigation that is going to hold those responsible to account.”

After the protest, McKellen laid rainbow roses on a rainbow flag – the symbol of the LGBT movement – outside the embassy.