“Russian LGBT Network”: in Chechnya, relatives of LGBTQ people are encouraged to commit “honor killings”

In Chechnya, relatives of two LGBTQ people, 20-year-old Salekh Magamadov and a 17-year-old boy, are being persuaded to commit an “honor killing.” about this Novaya Gazeta writes with reference to the Russian LGBT Network.

The relatives of Magamadov and the young man are regularly, almost daily, interviewed by the police, where they are allegedly encouraged to reprisal them. Similar conversations, according to the LGBT Network, began on March 25. Human rights activists were informed about this by unnamed friends of Chechen young people.

According to human rights activists, young people in Chechnya have only distant relatives with whom they do not have contact. in Chechnya were detained On March 23 , about 20 relatives on the Grozny TV and radio company’s Instagram , who were asked until two in the morning about the whereabouts of their parents - they left the republic due to pressure from the security forces. After the detention, a video appeared , in which relatives threaten Novaya Gazeta and the LGBT Network because of the coverage of this situation.

Magamadov and the young man are accused under the article on participation in an illegal armed formation (part 2 of article 208 of the Criminal Code). According to investigators, they allegedly handed over a package of juice, a box of tea, a chocolate bar, three loaves of bread, one kilogram of buckwheat and other products to the militant Rustam Borchashvili, who was killed in the fall of 2020. They are under arrest.

news corrected

• Chechen youths were detained on the afternoon of February 4 in Nizhny Novgorod. On that day, one of them called the emergency assistance coordinator of the “Russian LGBT Network” and told that unknown people were trying to get into their place of residence, the screams of strangers were heard on the phone. After that, their whereabouts were unknown for some time, until they were found at the police station in Chechnya. Young people said that police officers brought printed confessions and forced them to memorize. These statements were included in the criminal case.
• On February 7, it became known that the deported Chechens were forced to refuse human rights assistance. On February 8, the ECHR ordered Russia to allow doctors, independent lawyers and relatives to see them. On March 23, the case was transferred to the Investigation Department for Chechnya. Human rights activists believe that this happened due to the statement of the Commissioner for Human Rights in Russia after numerous complaints.
• The Russian LGBT Network helped young people move from Chechnya to Nizhny Novgorod after they and six others were forced to apologize on camera in April 2020 for moderating the telegram channel Osal Nakh 95, which criticized the government. Videos with their apologies were then published in local telegram chats. According to the human rights organization, the young people were forced to apologize by torture and humiliation.