In a cell, flooded with blood

The story of the first gay from Chechnya, who was not afraid to reveal his name and show his face.

In the spring of this year, New Gazeta reported mass raids on the alleged representatives of the LGBT community in Chechnya. The leadership of the republic then said that there are no gays in the region, and if "such people were", then their relatives "themselves would send them to the address where they did not return." In response to the statements of human rights activists, the investigating authorities noted that the investigation requires an application from the homosexuals affected in Chechnya. As it became known on October 16, Maxim Lapunov was the first such applicant. In March, he was detained in Grozny and was tortured. In September, he submitted an application to the Investigative Committee. But, as human rights activists say, the investigation on this appeal has not yet been conducted.

Maxim Lapunov He arrived in Chechnya from Omsk in 2015. He worked as leading at entertainment events, and in his specialty in Grozny there were always many orders. He lived calmly in Chechnya for two years, but in March 2017 he was kidnapped right in the center of Grozny and kept almost two weeks in the basement.

Maxim Lapunov

The camera is two by two meters, one of its quarters was flooded with blood, fresh enough

"At 11 pm I was approached by two men unknown to me, they were in civilian clothes. They grabbed under their arms and dragged towards the car. There were many people around, there were even attempts to save me because I shouted and called for help. But they immediately stuffed me into the car ... Then they drove me to the police unit, I suppose it was late at night, the main" was the main accusation " that I'm gay.

For a long time I was asked without the use of violent actions about some celebrities in Grozny, who could be associated with homosexuality. I denied everything. Then they gave the order to knock me out of me. I was brought to another room, there, under the threat of torture, and sticks forced me to hand over another person. And then we were brought together to the same department, but already to the basement ... I was taken to the camera. The camera is two by two meters, one quarter of it was flooded with blood, fresh enough. Then they beat me. While they beat, people were constantly screaming into the camera that I was gay, that I have to kill people like me, ”said Maxim Lapunov at a press conference organized by the New Gazeta editorial office.

After 12 days, Maxim’s humiliations were released, but before that they forced to sign some documents and leave their fingerprints on weapons. According to Maxim, during the time he spent in the basement, about 30 more people were brought there. The young man says that they were mainly suspected of homosexuality. At the same time, Chechens were beaten much more cruelly than Maxim, even tortured electric shock.

In August, Maxim Lapunov, with the help of a committee’s lawyers against torture, turned to the Commissioner for Human Rights in Russia Tatyana Moskalkova, who sent a statement to the Main Investigation Department in the North Caucasus District, located in Essentuki. According to the lawyer of the committee against the torture of Vladimir Smirnov, the investigators did not satisfy any of Maxim Lapunov’s petitions - they mainly did not provide him with the defense and did not check the police department where the young man was allegedly illegally kept. All that was done is forensic examination, which a few months after beating, of course, did not reveal any traces of violence, as well as Maxim’s interrogation using a polygraph.

“The investigation was not effective,” said Vladimir Smirnov. The chairman of the committee against torture, Igor Kalyapin, expressed itself tougher: "There was no investigation." That is why human rights activists decided to publish the history of Maxim Lapunov - in the hope that the attention of the media will push the investigating authorities to conduct this investigation on the facts of gay persecution in Chechnya.

This crime is unprecedented since the Second World War

According to the head of the Russian LGBT network Igor Kochetkov, since April, the organization evacuated 79 people from Chechnya. 27 of them, stated, were subjected to torture in the republic. Another 42 people are their relatives and acquaintances, which were threatened by law enforcement officers. According to Kochetkov, 15 people who were suspected of belonging to the gay community disappeared after issuing to relatives.

Igor Kochetkov

“There are all signs of crime against humanity,” says Igor Kochetkov. “People have not deprived of freedom on the territory of the European continent and have not been tortured only for their sexual orientation since the time of Nazi Germany. This crime is unprecedented since the Second World War. It is unprecedented and motivation ... Do not look for rational motives, just believe that the leaders of Chechnya are said, in particular Kadyrov, he recently said that there are no gays in Chechnya, but if you find them, take them to Canada to cleanse the blood.

According to LGBT networks, the persecution of gays in the Chechen Republic continues. Answering the question of Radio Liberty about why it was in the spring of 2017 that a fierce homophobic campaign began in Chechnya, Igor Kochetkov calls not to look for logic in this:

"There is no need to look for rational political motives in this. On February 21, Zelim Zelim Zemkhanov was detained, as we know, now he is dead. In his phone, information about other gays, and this information somehow reached the leadership of the republic. And the leadership was apparently surprised that there are gays in Chechnya and there are quite a lot of them."

Tatyana Lokshina, a program director for Russia by the Human Rights Watch International Human Rights Office, believes that the persecution of gays in Chechnya is a logical continuation of what has happened in the republic for many years:

Tatyana Lokshina

"The Chechen power structures for years have informally delayed and plunged to torture and cruelty in illegal places of detention of representatives of various undesirable groups-these are suspects of sympathies to jihadists, Muslims-Salafites, alleged consumers of drugs, fortunetellers, persons who allowed themselves to at least criticism of the policy of the Chechen authorities. What did what they did with. Gays in Chechnya this spring, this is the same. "

In an interview with Radio Liberty, the chairman of the committee against torture, Igor Kalyapin, expresses bewilderment about the actual refusal of the investigating authorities to understand the case of Maxim Lapunov:

Igor Kalyapin

Such a reaction of the authorities is connivance, concealment and incitement

"I sincerely do not understand why in this particular case the necessary investigative actions were not carried out, why the criminal case was not instituted, urgent verification measures were not carried out. In my opinion, this had to be done. As far as I know, no senior officials with specific Maxim Lapunov did not work. If someone had now brought to criminal liability, without great blood, someone year Three or four would not be so distant for exceeding the official powers, I think that both the image of the Russian authorities and the image of the Investigative Committee would only benefit from this. incitement ".