Chechnya's 'gay purge' is marked by harrowing four
Anti-gay purges in Chechnya Anti-gay purges in Chechnya, a part of the Russian Federation, have included forced disappearances, secret abductions, imprisonment, torture and extrajudicial killing by authorities targeting persons based on their perceived sexual orientation, primarily gay men. Chechnya is an autonomous republic of Russia, located in the North Caucasus, near the Caspian Sea, in southern Russia. With a reported though disputed population of around 1. 
Chechnya’s Horrific ‘Gay Purge’
The Gay Men Who Fled Chechnya’s Purge The stories of those who survived detention and torture and are now living undercover in Putin’s Russia. By Masha Gessen June 26, By Zoya Raza-Sheikh. Earlier this year, year-old Salekh Magamadov and year-old Ismail Isayev were handed over to the Chechen authorities and detained.
Chechnya’s Deadly Anti
Today, the European Court of Human Rights handed down a ruling in the case of Maxim Lapunov, the only victim of Chechnya’s vile anti-gay purge who dared seek justice for the torture he. Earlier this month, Belgium revealed that it gave five humanitarian visas to gay men fleeing the violent anti-gay Chechnya purge. So we reached out to the Russia LGBT Network, a local organization that has helped approximately gay and bi men escape the Chechnya purge , which has confirmed to us that the campaign has never stopped nor let up. This group is secretly helping LGBT Chechens escape a "gay purge"
Facing possible death, many gay and bisexual men have fled Chechnya for safety reasons. Those who spoke with AFP hid their faces, because they feared reprisals after fleeing torture or even death. In late February or early March, Ali was in his apartment in Grozny, the capital of Chechnya, when he got a phone call from a local police officer. Ali took the SIM card out of his cell phone, inserted it into a spare, blank phone, and hid his regular handset. 
Anti
The pair previously fled persecution and torture in Chechnya and taught refuge in the Russian city of Nizhny Novgorod. Last June, both Magamadov and Isayev were forced to leave Chechnya after being tortured by Chechen special police for running an opposition Telegram messaging channel. The police made the men publicly apologise in a recorded video. Lapunov took his case to the European Court in May because the Russian authorities had failed to investigate his assault. I first met Lapunov nearly six years ago, when I moderated a news conference in Moscow at which he publicly told his story for the first time.
Kidnapping, Torture, Murder
April 1, , marks four years since the world at large was first made aware of Chechnya’s gay purge — atrocities committed against LGBTQ people within the Russian republic’s borders, a horrific, ongoing stratagem of abduction, detainment, torture and murder. . 
The Gay Men Who Fled Chechnya s Purge
These men had been entrapped using dating apps, social media and contacts, abducted from the road, arrested and detained. Furthermore, the “anti-gay purge,” as it has come to be known, also targeted numerous women, including trans-women. .
Setting the Record Straight on Chechnya’s Anti
Reports that gay men in Chechnya were being rounded up and tortured in prison camps there first emerged this past April. One St. Petersburg group stepped up to help, communicating with survivors. .