Travel to the kingdom of absurdity

Messages that in Chechnya since December 2016 they have purposefully delayed homosexuals, beat and torture in secret prisons, struck European politicians, journalists and public activists. British Prime Minister Teresa May called the actions of Chechnya authorities "barbaric atrocities" , and LGBT activists from France called on the International Criminal Court in the Hague to investigate what was happening in Chechnya. The application on behalf of the three LGBT movements was submitted against the head of the republic Ramzan Kadyrov. More than two million people signed appeals demanding an investigation of what was happening.

The Russian LGBT network, engaged in the evacuation of homosexuals from Chechnya, reports that appeals from 80 people were received, and 42 help. At the same time, both the persecution of homosexuals and the fact that in Chechnya there are people with non -traditional sexual orientation are denied. At a meeting with Putin, the head of Chechnya Ramzan Kadyrov accused the journalists who write about this of provocations. The press secretary of President Peskov said that the Kremlin had no reason to suspect Kadyrov of lies, but Putin promised the Moskalkova authorized person to the Human Rights to support the investigation of data on the persecution of homosexuals in Chechnya and attract the Prosecutor General and Minister of the Interior. Moskalkova sent the data collected by her to the Investigative Committee.

A few days after Putin’s statement, an Italian activist, representative of the International Movement of Allout, Yuri Guyana , came to Moscow. Allout helps the affected gays from Chechnya financially and organized a collection of signatures with a request to conduct an investigation. On May 11, Yuri Guyana and four Russian activists tried to transfer these signatures to the reception of the General Prosecutor's Office of Russia. However, they were immediately detained by the police, and the "banal democratic procedure" ended so that the Italian diplomats decided to urgently evacuate Yuri Guyan to their homeland.

Having returned to Milan, Yuri Guyana held a press conference at which he said that pogroms against homosexuals and European countries were organized in Chechnya-in particular, to simplify the procedure for issuing a residence permit to those who are persecuted.

Yuri Guyana willingly agreed to answer the questions of Radio Liberty, as he watched our report on his detention and noted his objectivity. Our conversation took place on May 17, on the International Day of Combat Homophobia and Transfobia .

- You have a Russian name. Are you from a Russian family?

- No, just my mother adored "Dr. Zhivago" and Yuri Gagarin and named me in their honor.

- Was this your first trip to Russia?

- Yes, I first visited Moscow.

- I suspect that the impressions are not very good.

The state media either completely ignored this story or spread the lie

- No, I foresaw that something like this would happen, and was ready. I would like to come again as a tourist. I am very pleased that I managed to get acquainted with wonderful people, activists with whom I collaborated. It was very important for me to do something along with the Russian activists who are leading the struggle that I fully support.

- Yes, but we must admit, unfortunately, that the persecution of gays in Chechnya is much more worried about the Russians. Russian society as a whole demonstrated indifference to this problem.

- Yes, this is so, and I noticed this by the reaction of the Russian mass media to what happened when we delivered signatures (with the exception of Radio Freedom - your video report was everywhere - and several independent publications and blogs). The state media either completely ignored this story or spread lies.

- And Russian intellectuals did not even dare to mention that gays were pursuing in Chechnya. They signed a letter in support of the “Novaya Gazeta”, which was threatened by the Kadyrovites, but the letter does not have the words “gay” or “LGBT”, but only “residents of Chechnya”, so an ignorant person will not understand who they are persecuted there.

- Yes, it's very sad. And even more sad that Russia is going back. This is both of me and all of us. Russia is a huge country, and the direction that it has chosen is very dangerous.

Yuri Guyana

- You have collected a lot of signatures in a short time. How do you succeed and what do you offer in this appeal?

- Signatures were collected by three organizations. The organization in which I work, Allout , advocating the rights of LGBT, the famous international platform for AVAAZ petitions and a Russian group that prepared an appeal to Change.org. The main requirement from the people who signed these appeals is to conduct an honest and effective investigation of what is happening in Chechnya and to prosecute those guilty of arrests, torture and several murders of homosexuals.

- And you brought to Moscow boxes with signatures?

Russia is a huge country, and the direction that it chose is very dangerous

- We wanted to conduct a very simple democratic procedure: to deliver these signatures to the Prosecutor General. The boxes that we carried were almost empty, it was just a symbolic action: there were so many signatures that they would not fit in the boxes, so we had them with them on a flash drive. We needed to go only a few meters before the entrance to the Prosecutor General, but as soon as we went out, as many police officers appeared. They stopped us, demanded to show that it was in boxes, we opened them, showed them sheets with signatures. But they replied that it was forbidden. The boxes were taken away, they took us to the gas stations, searched and detained for several hours in the police department.

- How did they behave? Have you heard homophobic comments?

-I do not speak Russian, so I don’t know if they said something homophobic. I noticed some tension in how the police treated other activists who were with me, but I did not understand what they said. They did not treat me rudely, there was no violence.

“Do you think they were waiting for you on purpose?”

Dozens of police officers ran from all sides

“ It seemed to me that they were specially waiting for us.” We arrived and immediately saw police vans, and there were still people in a different uniform - blue, I decided that these were military personnel. Apparently, they were waiting for us because there were too many police - four vans. I don’t know how they received information about our plans, we were very careful, but still they were waiting for us.

- Four police van on five activists with cardboard boxes!

- Yes, it was ridiculous. Dozens of police officers ran from all sides when we walked with these boxes. There were only five of us, and dozens of police officers surrounded us and blocked us with the way. Some were in body armor ... It is completely ridiculous to demonstrate such power against five people carrying a petition.

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5 activists were detained in Moscow

- And in the police department you were accused of violating order and appointed a trial day?

How can you attribute signatures if you do not go along the street?! But they called it a demonstration

- Yes, the court should take place on May 29. The protocol that they made said that I was an organizer and participant of an inconsistent demonstration and resisted the police. Both accusations are a complete lie. First of all, this was not a demonstration, because we just went to the prosecutor to transfer signatures. I don’t know what these people think - how else can you attribute signatures if you do not go along the street?! But they called it a demonstration. And in the video (in particular, in the video reporting of Radio Freedom) it is clear that we did not show any resistance. As soon as the police appeared, we stopped in the middle of the street, showed the boxes, did everything they demanded, and went to the autozak. We just sought to ensure that the Russian authorities follow their own laws. I demanded that the protocol indicate that I did not agree.

- And you immediately left Russia?

- The Italian consulate invited me to do this immediately. Italian diplomats were immediately informed about my detention, the consul came to the police department and, I don’t know why, advised me to buy a new ticket and leave Russia. They brought me from the police directly to the train to the airport, and I immediately flew away.

- Are you going to return to court?

- I’m not going to return, and a lawyer will represent me in court. I would like to know what the court decision will be both for me and for other activists. They will probably be fined, and we intend to raise funds to pay these amounts.

Activists detained at the Prosecutor General’s Office: Nikita Safronov, Alexander Alekseeva, Marina Dedles, Valentina Dekhtyarenko and Yuri Guyana

- Your organization Allout helps gays who are persecuted in Chechnya to leave Russia?

- We follow the situation in Chechnya since the New Gazeta reported about what was happening there, I am delighted with the excellent work and courage of its journalists. We immediately prepared a petition and organized a fundraiser to help the Russian LGBT networks so that they could take as many gays from Chechnya as possible and provide them with safety and provide everything necessary in Russia or, if possible, beyond its borders. We are very closely cooperating with Russian organizations, primarily with LGBT networks, and we finance their work on the help of Chechens.

- Did you have the opportunity to talk in Moscow with gays fled from Chechnya?

- No. For security reasons, the Russian LGBT network does not allow anyone to meet with refugees from Chechnya. They, as you yourself understand, are very vulnerable and do not trust strangers, especially in such a situation as mine, because I do not speak Russian.

- What conclusion did you make after this short trip to Moscow and what do you think about the situation with the rights of LGBT in Russia?

This is a terrible fate - to constantly hide your feelings from other people and be yourself only in your own apartment

- I am very, very dejected what is happening with the rights of LGBT not only in Chechnya, but also in Russia as a whole. Italy is not yet the best country in the world in this regard, but I am completely amazed at what I saw in Russia. Five people do the most banal thing: they try to convey signatures under the petition, and the police stop them, delay and keep them in the department for several hours ... May 17 - the day of the struggle with homophobia and transfoby. We know that Russia is one of the worst countries in Europe regarding the observance of LGBT rights, and this causes extreme concern. My impression is this: if you are a gay or a lesbian and hide it, that is, you actually renounce yourself and the opportunity to love the one you love, openly, then most likely nothing threatens you. But this is a terrible fate - to constantly hide your feelings from other people and be yourself only in your own apartment ... This is an unbearable torture. Russian citizens have the right to be free, to live according to the laws of a free country, regardless of their sexual orientation or gender identity. We must achieve this, because now the situation is outrageous.

On May 16, the Russian LGBT network reported that the detentions in Chechnya were also suspended people detained during the second wave of arrests (mid-March). "At the same time, there are alarming reports that, due to close attention to what is happening in the region, representatives of local law enforcement agencies are associated with relatives of the victims and demanding that they have no complaints about the work of Chechen law enforcement agencies, and pressure is pressure against the relatives of the victims."