Attack on defenders

Activist of the LGBT movement Nikolai Alekseev and his associates filed a lawsuit against the protection of honor and dignity in connection with the publications on gay persecution in Chechnya against the Novaya Gazeta. This was the founder of the project Gayrussia.ru on his Facebook.

"The second step will be the official request to the Investigative Committee with the request to submit to the Novaya Gazeta the accusations of slander in accordance with the Criminal Code," he wrote.

Alekseev explained that the reason for the lawsuit, in particular, was an article entitled "The Murder of Honor. As an ambition of a famous LGBT activist, a terrible ancient custom was awakened in Chechnya." It said that Alekseev and other gay activists remotely submitted applications for shares in Chechnya for reasons of their own security, which provoked the beginning of large-scale raids in the region. The plaintiffs call this statement slander. In addition, Alekseev announced the absence of evidence of the oppression of homosexuals in Chechnya.

"No Chechens were sued for the new newspaper for publications on the murders of gays in Chechnya. Yes, gays. Those same associates of Nikolai Alekseev, who for the sake of their own PR and small things from the ECHR submitted a statement of parades, after which the repression began," commented the statements by Alekseev by Alekseev, Aleksei Polukhin.

“Instead of apologizing for a lie, they also continue to aggravate the situation. At the same time, it has already been proven by the publication of Radio Liberty that notifications of our LGBT races in other Caucasian regions have nothing to do with the“ persecution ”in Chechnya. And this editor continues, without realizing it, the homophobic line of publications of Elena Valerievna (Milashina), Ed. Which rejects the very universality of human rights, according to which we have the right to exercise our rights where we want, in full accordance with the legislation.

On April 1 and 5, two articles by Milashina about the brutal persecution of gays in Chechnya were published in Novaya. The journalist wrote about mass detentions, torture and murders of homosexuals. Then, several media outlets appeared evidence of the victims of persecution from Chechnya.

Chechen officials reacted extremely sharply to publication. Thus, the Mufti of Chechnya Salah Mezhiev said that the authors of publications on the persecution of homosexuals would suffer "Allah's retribution." Adam Shakhidov, Advisor to Ramzan Kadyrov on religious issues, said that Novaya Gazeta journalists will have to “ask for forgiveness” on their knees if they could not prove the fact of the persecution of homosexuals in the region. The head of the Chechen Minnationality, Dzhambulat Umarov, in appeal to the chief editor of the "new" Dmitry Muratov demanded an apology for publications .

In "New" they regarded statements made in Chechnya as a direct call for reprisal against journalists . Later, the editor -in -chief of Echo of Moscow, Alexei Venediktov, sharply criticized the inaction of the Prosecutor General, TFR and law enforcement agencies. “While your centers” are chasing adolescents with sneakers, the impudent, uncontrolled, enemy state that dares to threaten Russian citizens, ”Venediktov, has grown up, or it has already grown so much that you are even afraid to start an investigation? Or homeless ISIS, and you can only continue to observe the way they are helplessly how they are helpless threaten and kill? " The next day, the "echo of Moscow" itself received threats from Chechnya itself

On Monday, Kadyrov said that a " massive information attack " is being conducted on Chechnya. “The most unworthy methods and forms are used, reality is distorted, attempts are made to denigrate our society, way of life, traditions and customs,” Kadyrov wrote. “People without shame and conscience will always speak the language of lies and slander.”

On Monday, the press service of the Investigative Committee said that the department was checking information about threats to journalists of Novaya Gazeta and Echo of Moscow. At the same time, the press service noted that in the Investigative Committee of the Chechnya, "no appeals about the persecution of persons of non-traditional sexual orientation were received." Nevertheless, on Tuesday, Milashin reported that the TFR began to verify the facts of gay persecution in Chechnya published by the publication.