Dozens of people have been detained and at least two have died in custody,amid a fresh crackdown on LGBT groups in the Russian republic of Chechnya, activists said Monday.
Around 40 people -- both men and women -- have been detained in recent weeks in a "new wave of persecution," Igor Kochetkov, the head of rights group Russian LGBT Network, said in a statement.
(AP) FIFA approved Chechnya as a World Cup base for Egypt and immediately met calls on Friday to reverse its decision in the face of charges of human rights violations by the Russian region's strongman leader.
Berlin (AP) — Germany has begun granting gays from Chechnya special visas on humanitarian grounds following reports that gay people are being tortured and killed in the Russian republic.
The Foreign Ministry told The Associated Press on Thursday the first man arrived in Germany on Tuesday and four other applications for humanitarian visas are being reviewed.
MOSCOW (AP) — The leader of Russia's Chechnya has invited the French president and the German chancellor to visit his region and check for themselves the reports about gay people being killed and tortured there.
Moscow (AP) — High-level officials in Russia's Chechnya humiliated inmates during visits to detention facilities where gay people were allegedly held and tortured, Human Rights Watch said in a new report Friday.
Moscow (AP) — Anzor was lying on a dirty floor as a man in army boots jumped on his back. His agony worsened when his captors started torturing him with electric shocks.
"It's a feeling like they are breaking every bone of every joint in your body at the same time," he said.
Moscow (AP) — Moscow wants to protect human rights but has no reason to believe reports about the persecution of gay men in Chechnya, Russian officials said on Monday.
MOSCOW (AP) — Vladimir Putin's spokesman says the Russian president has no reason to doubt the Chechen leader's assurances that there's no persecution of gays in his republic, despite reports by a respected Russian newspaper of a roundup of gay men there.
Protests were held outside the Russian embassy in London on April 12, 2017, following news of gay men being detained and murdered in Chechnya. Photo by Thomas Hornall.
