Gay and Bisexual Chechen Men Are Terrorists?
More news has come out in Chechnya and its not good.
It has been reported that Chechnya is now allegedly reporting gay and bisexual men from the country as terrorists so that the men will not be able to leave the country.
The way that the Chechen government is doing this is by threatening the families of the men. Crime Russia reports that the government is having the families of gay and bisexual men write statements that their family members have fled to Russia in order to join terrorist groups.
This then gives them the ability to target and hunt the men down while also giving them justification for holding the men for extended periods of time.
This offense is only the latest in multiple atrocities placed down on gay and bisexual men in Chechnya over the past few months.
Since April, when reports started appearing about persecutions happening in Chechnya, there has been talk of torture and cruel acts targeted towards these men. Plus, Russia and Chechnya pretend that there is nothing going on when officially asked about these events.
And you would think that a country that outright denies the existence of these men, when its not torturing them, would celebrate when they move away. But now, like the psychopathic structure that it is, Chechnya is making it so that gay men are not capable of getting out of the country or are hunting down the ones that do.
And once the men come back to Chechnya, what do they get? More torture and cruel treatment.
The Russian LGBT Network recently reported testimonies from 33 men who were being persecuted in the country.
Some of these testimonies spoke of when they were captured by the government or when they were turned on by loved ones and family members.
For instance, the families have been told that if they kill their gay relatives themselves, they won’t be persecuted as well. As such, several gay and bisexual men have been killed by their own families.
One witness recounted how a man was killed by his father and uncle and then buried in the woods without a funeral.
More: This is What A Gay Torture Center in Chechnya Looks Like
Another stated how he was beaten by authorities:
“They threw me to the floor and beat me. They beat my chest and my face with their feet, and they hit my head against the floor. One of them said: ‘Do not beat him until the shock stage, at that point he will stop feeling pain. We don’t need that,'” one survivor recalls. “They addressed me with female pronouns and demanded that I tell them the names of other gay people I knew. They threatened to kill me if I didn’t.”
The idea that gay and bisexual men are being terrorized by their own country leaves me near speechless, but the idea that the country is actively seeking them out once they’ve left is downright demonic.
For those on the other side of the globe, you might feel helpless. But, there are things you can do.
You can speak out to family and friends and make them aware of the wrongdoings going on in Chechnya. Surprisingly (or perhaps unsurprisingly), many people outside of the LGBTQ community are completely unaware of what’s happening.
In addition, you can support organizations like the Russian LGBT Network, which has happened to house 64 gay and bisexual individuals from Chechnya in safe locations.
If you wish to help them, you can donate here.
