51吃瓜

Detention, torture and murder of gay聽men in Chechnya continue the litany of human rights abuses in the country.

鈥淚magine knowing that you鈥檝e ruined not only your own life but the life of your entire family,鈥� Akhmed tells . 鈥淚鈥檝e always just wanted to make my mother happy and proud. I was ready to marry. I would have taken all these problems with me to the grave. I could never have imagined in my worst nightmares that I would be sitting here in front of a journalist and saying: 鈥業鈥檓 a Chechen and I鈥檓 gay.鈥欌��

Chechnya, Russia鈥檚 mutinous, mountainous republic in the restive North Caucasus region, is known for little more than the rampant violence and human rights abuses that have continued unabated since the First Chechen War in 1994. Forced disappearances, abductions, torture (), extrajudicial killings, terrorism, , political assassinations and organized crime have been the status quo before Ramzan Kadyrov 鈥� the current leader of Chechnya 鈥� assumed the presidency in 2007, and have not gone out of fashion in the decade since.

What Akhmed spoke out about is the latest, blood-chilling addition to the litany of repression and abuse coming out of the republic: the reported detention of gay men, torture and, in at least three cases, death.

Detention, Torture, Death

In a special report by Russia鈥檚 leading investigative newspaper, , published on April 1, Elena Milashina and Irina Gordienko have exposed a recent wave of persecution of what in Russian is referred to as 鈥渘on-traditional sexual orientation.鈥� A subsequent report exposed the existence of a , a short drive from the capital Grozny, where victims have reported being subjected to electric shocks, beatings, humiliation and extortion.

Several victims have independently testified to having been blackmailed and threatened by the police. Akhmed, who escaped Chechnya, tells of receiving a phone call from the police saying that his family members will be held hostage until he returns. One man told Novaya Gazeta that he was 鈥溾�� by the police for over two years, paying monthly bribes to prevent being exposed. A second victim speaks of biting his hands to draw blood to counter the pain from the torture. It helped, he says.

In the ultra-conservative, religious Chechnya this is a lucrative racket for the police. Homosexuality is a taboo, and honor killings are common. In denouncing the investigation, , pointed out that 鈥淚n accordance with local traditions, if someone as much as points a finger at a man from a clan, there is no need to detain him 鈥� for a 100 years, until the generation changes, not one woman will marry a man from that clan.鈥�

Echoing former Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad鈥檚 claim there were no gay people in Iran, that 鈥淚f there were such people in Chechnya, the security forces would have no fuss with them, because their relatives would dispatch them to an address from which no one returns.鈥�

Heda Saratova, a member of Chechnya鈥檚 human rights council, went further: 鈥淚 am a Chechen, and what you are saying is worse than war 鈥� I would like to assure you that in our Chechen society, a man who respects himself, traditions and customs would 鈥� do everything possible to make sure that there are no such people in our society,鈥� radio.

She later apologized, claiming following the shock of the initial news that there are in fact homosexuals in Chechnya.

It is this shame that the security services exploit. As one victim points out, there are only three ways to get out once you鈥檝e been detained: pay a steep bribe, give up other homosexuals or be released back to your family, often as a 鈥渂ag of bones鈥� following the savage beatings by both prison guards and other prisoners, with the danger of further punishment, ostracism or death.

State of Lawlessness

According to Novaya Gazeta, 鈥淚n the last two years 鈥� right after the assassination of Boris Nemtsov, for which the organizers went unpunished 鈥� mass repressions in Chechnya have become a bad tradition. And with each time these repressions become more and more catastrophic in their scope and ever more absurd in their motivation.鈥� Victims are kept in prison 鈥� located on Kadyrov Street 鈥� alongside jihadists who traveled to Syria and their relatives, drug addicts and everyone else the Chechen state sweeps up in its wake.

Kadyrov, who was only 27 when he was following his father鈥檚 assassination in 2004, has ruled the republic with the proverbial iron fist. During the Second Chechen War, Kadyrov headed his father Ahmad鈥檚 feared militia, known as Kadyrovtsy, who were connected to thousands of forced disappearances, including the abduction of , himself killed in 2005.

According to the human rights group, Memorial, between 2002 and 2006 over 1,000 people went missing聽鈥斅燿ata that only covered a quarter of Chechen territory. According to Kavkaz Uzel, range between 3,000 and 5,000, . A described the areas under Kadyrov鈥檚 control as being engulfed by 鈥渁tmosphere of fear,鈥� with those who survived the two brutal wars cowered to the point of being afraid to as much as complain.

As one-time Kadyrov bodyguard testified before being gunned down on a Vienna street, Kadyrov was not only present at tortures, but 鈥渁mused himself by personally giving prisoners electric shocks or firing pistols at their feet.鈥�

Many opponents turned up dead. Two of the Yamadaev brothers 鈥� Kadyrov鈥檚 main political rivals 鈥� were shot, one in Moscow and the other in Dubai; a third brother claimed an assassination attempt against him. Human rights defenders , Zurema Sadiuayeva, lawyer were all killed. The unsolved roots of Russia鈥檚 most notorious murders 鈥� including those of Novaya Gazeta鈥檚 Anna Poliltkovskaya (killed on Putin鈥檚 birthday) and opposition leader Boris Nemtsov (shot in front of the Kremlin) 鈥� disappear into Chechnya.

In the run-up to last year鈥檚 presidential election, which Kadyrov won with a modest , HRW reported authorities 鈥溾�� cracking down on all dissent. , who complained to President Putin about the state of infrastructure in Chechnya during an annual televised call-in, saw himself and his family running for life across the mountains to escape what the deputy minister of internal affairs, Apti Alautdinov, reminded him in person as Politkovskaya鈥檚 and Nemtsov鈥檚 fate.

In March 2016, the head of the in the center of Grozny. Previously, the organization鈥檚 offices were ransacked and torched, and activists ambushed and beaten.

With families of terrorists and jihadists subjected to , raids on Chechen villages following which people without a trace, the director of that the Novaya Gazeta investigation hasn鈥檛 revealed anything new 鈥� secret prisons have been a staple of Chechen power structure all through the 鈥渃ounterterrorism operation鈥� launched by Putin in 1999.

But the scope of this brutality is likely to be much more widespread. 鈥淚n Chechnya there is a much scarier problem: People are so frightened, squashed, that they don鈥檛 complain,鈥� . 鈥淧eople know that we will send the complaint to the Investigative Committee, and as soon they will start trying to do anything, Kadyrovtsy will pay them a visit and will start to pressure them in such a way that the initial torture will seem like flowers.鈥�

Novaya Gazeta confirms that in its practice, Russia鈥檚 Investigative Committee doesn鈥檛 actually investigate such complaints. When one of the victims tried to file a complaint against his detention in Moscow, it wasn鈥檛 accepted. In 2006, according to the , the human rights ombudsman received some 3,000 complaints of abuses in prisons. Kalyapin says that the last complaint against Kadyrov鈥檚 inner circle was submitted in 2015.

All this makes the reaction from the Kremlin鈥檚 spokesman, Dmitry Peskov, for the victims to pursue a legal course of action through the courts seem laughable; he dismissed it as 鈥渘ot a prerogative of the president鈥檚 administration.鈥�

Price of Peace

It is important to remember that all of this is taking place inside a subject of the Russian Federation. After Chechnya was systematically destroyed in the course of the two wars, Moscow poured in endless resources to rebuild and sustain the republic. More than 80% of Chechnya鈥檚 budget comes from Russia, meaning, as , that in 2017 Russians will pay 640 rubles (around $10) each in taxes to Chechnya 鈥斅爉oney that goes toward funding , state brutality and circumvention of Russia鈥檚 laws, as well as ostentatious showing off. ( is said to be the most on the market.)

In a , Milashina says that the reason for such a is the inherent weakness of Kadyrov鈥檚 regime. With rumors of a against the president by the surviving Isa Yamadaev, security structures 鈥減redict that if things continue like that, there could be a revolt in Chechnya. because the population of Chechnya is in an awful situation. It can鈥檛 last long,鈥� she says.

Indeed, : 鈥淣ow when I think back to the war, 鈥� we were not as frightened as now. Fear of a bomb, fear of a bullet 鈥斅爄t鈥檚 something we could live with 鈥� But this 鈥� utter humiliation 鈥� I just cannot deal with it, I鈥檓 ashamed of myself. Every day, they take away another piece of my dignity.鈥�

Chechnya is a closed region, with tight control over information, and the fact that this information got out at all is a , according to Russia鈥檚 LGBT-rights activist involved in attempts to help gay men escape from the republic.

But now that the information is out, Russia鈥檚 continuing turning of a blind eye to the human rights situation in the region may come at a high price. If indeed Milashina鈥檚 assessment is correct, the Kremlin may be subsidizing what in the end might erupt the brutally-won 鈥渟tability.鈥� While LGBT rights in Russia have been under assault 鈥� with anti-gay propaganda laws, vigilante persecutions and violence against gay men 鈥� the situation in Chechnya is a throwback to the Nazi imprisonment of homosexuals during the Third Reich. Words fail at this comparison.

鈥淣obody knows how many people have been killed,鈥� Akhmed concludes in his interview with The Guardian. 鈥淚t鈥檚 just impossible to contact most people or to find anything out. But I would be amazed if it was only three.鈥�

The views expressed in this article are the author鈥檚 own and do not necessarily reflect 51吃瓜鈥檚 editorial policy.

Photo Credit:聽