Gay Man From Chechnya: ‘If I Go Home, They Will Kill Me’

Families Are Killing Their Own While Donald Trump Remains Silent

Weeks after initial reports of the gay concentration camp horrors taking place in Chechnya, the dangerous situation gay men face there remains unchanged – and by many accounts, it may have gotten worse.

While Chechnya’s leader Ramzan Kadyrov continues to deny there is a problem at all, gay men are returning from detention with harrowing firsthand stories of torture, abuse, and even death. Kadyrov was put in office with the support of Russian President Vladimir Putin, who refuses to discuss the issue.

Even after escaping the dangerous conditions, those detained and tortured are afraid to return home for fear their own families may try to kill them.  

Attitude reported the details of one man’s interview with France 24: 

“They torture people using electricity and deprive them of food. At night they would throw their leftovers in the cells instead of throwing it in the bin. It wasn’t to feed the prisoners, it was to see them humiliated by having to eat the leftovers….Some of them preferred to be killed rather than suffer all that. Many resisted, but they beat them horribly. They gave them electric shocks. They always got what they wanted, because we can’t be heroes when faced with so much pain and humiliation.” 

He continued: 

“They tortured a man for two weeks. They summoned his parents and his brothers who all came. They said to them ‘your son is a homosexual, sort it out or we’ll do it ourselves.’ They replied: ‘It’s our family; we’ll do it’. The family took him and killed him in the forest. They buried him there. They didn’t even give him a funeral.”

We’ve been reporting for weeks now how gay men have been kidnapped and brought to detention camps in remote locations, often facing torture and abuse. In that time UN Ambassador Nikki Haley spoke out against the horrors, saying, “We continue to be disturbed by reports of kidnapping, torture, and murder of people in Chechnya based on their sexual orientation and those persecuted by association. If true, this violation of human rights cannot be ignored – Chechen authorities must immediately investigate these allegations, hold anyone involved accountable, and take steps to prevent future abuses.” 

German Chancellor Angela Merkel confronted Valdimir Putin in a joint press conference and in private meetings, saying she had received “negative reports on the way that homosexuals are dealt with, particularly in Chechnya”. While she called on Russia to investigate the reports, Vladimir Putin denied them, saying he had no information on the matter. 

For his part, President Donald Trump has remined conspicuously silent.

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