Anzor is a gay man from Chechnya, the predominantly Muslim region in southern Russia where some 100 men suspected of being gay were detained and tortured, and at least three of them were killed. Gay rights activists' requests to hold rallies are routinely rejected by officials and any rallies that do take place are often attacked by anti-gay thugs. [...] this anti-gay purge, sanctioned by top local authorities, is unprecedented," said Tanya Lokshina, the Russia program coordinator for Human Rights Watch. Another gay man, who spoke on condition of anonymity for fear of reprisals, told the AP that he was also arrested in Chechnya and held with dozens of others. Western governments and rights groups have urged Russian authorities to investigate. Homosexuality is a taboo in conservative Chechnya, and the gay community there was used to leading a double life — marrying, having children and hiding their sexuality from even their closest family members. Anzor, who talked to the AP at a safe house provided by LGBT activists, fears for the lives of his family members who will become pariahs in the patriarchal Chechen society if his identity is revealed. Human rights groups have previously documented torture and extrajudicial killings perpetrated by Kadyrov's security forces against opponents and Salafi Muslims. Vinnichenko's phones ring every few minutes as she coordinates efforts with other activists on hospital treatment, plane tickets and housing arrangements. LGBT activists have been meeting with foreign diplomats, pleading that granting a visa to gay survivors of torture could be a matter of saving their lives. In Washington, the U.S.
Electric Shocks: Chechen Gay Men Recount Days Of Torture
By NATALIYA VASILYEVA and ALEXANDER ROSLYAKOV, Associated Press, San Francisco Chronicle: World
Tue, 05/02/2017 - 4:30am
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