Pickets against gay persecution in Chechnya

Civil activists went with pickets to Manezhnaya Square with a demand to investigate a violation of gay rights in the Chechen Republic. On April 1, the New Gazeta reported the mass detentions and torture of the inhabitants of Chechnya suspected of non -traditional sexual orientation. The editors are known for at least three dead. The Chechen authorities called the publication a slander and promised "retaliations to the instigators", and the Mufti of Chechnya said that the journalists were waiting for the "punishment of Allah." The Union of Moscow Journalists called on the authorities and law enforcement agencies to stop the pressure on the publication. The Council for Human Rights under the President of Russia demanded that the Investigative Committee initiate criminal cases in connection with threats to journalists of Novaya Gazeta in Chechnya.