“I will soon get treatment and also go to Ukraine.” A Chechen gay man detained in Domodedovo recorded a video in which he asked human rights activists to “leave behind” him

Idris Arsamikov, who was detained at Domodedovo Airport on February 16, recorded a video from his home in Chechnya and asked human rights activists to “leave behind” him. He posted two videos on his Vkontakte page.

In the video, Idris, 28, says that a lot of "dirt" is written about him on the Internet, and that this offends him and his nation. He adds that in Chechnya "his rights are valued." Idris also says that two of his brothers are already fighting in Ukraine, and that since he is a patriot, he will soon join them. He also stated: "I'm a man and I'm going to get married soon."

The SK SOS Crisis Group believes that the videos were recorded under duress. “The rhetoric, choice of words, backstory and similar cases suggest that he was asked to record the video due to public outcry. To reduce public pressure, the security forces apparently let Idris go home on the condition that he record a video. Such public "repentance" in an attempt to whitewash the authorities is a constant practice in Chechnya," the group said in a statement.

Since 2018, Idris Arsamikov has lived in the Netherlands. He went there after he survived the torture of the Chechen security forces. In the summer of 2018, Chechen security forces detained a man, kept him in a basement, where they beat and tortured him to confess his homosexuality.

In February 2023, Arsamikov returned to Russia to bury his father. On February 16, he was going to fly back to the Netherlands. However, in Domodedovo he was detained by the police, who later handed over Idris to the Chechen security forces. They took him to Chechnya, where a criminal case was opened against the man for fraud on an especially large scale. According to human rights activists, the corresponding statement against Arsamikov was written in December 2021, when the man was in the Netherlands.

Orientation on Arsamikov, in his own words, was signed by the chief of police of the Shelkovsky district of Chechnya, who in the summer of 2018 tortured the man with electric current.

Source: Idris Arsamikov , "SK SOS"

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