British Foreign Secretary speaks out in defence of Chechen gays

Today, after a meeting with his Russian counterpart Sergey Lavrov, British Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson has drawn attention to the problem of persecution of LGBT community members in Chechnya.

The "Caucasian Knot" has reported that the first wave of detentions of Chechens suspected in homosexuality occurred in December 2016-February 2017, the second took place in the period from March to May, and the third began on the day when the month of Ramadan ended in June. This information was released in the report prepared by the "Russian LGBT Network" and Elena Milashina, a special correspondent of the newspaper "Novaya Gazeta". The report is based on the testimonies of 33 people from Chechnya subjected to detentions and torture.

Today, after the talks held in Moscow with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, British Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson has expressed his support to LGBT community members in Chechnya.

"We support the LGBT community in the Chechen Republic, as they expect us to do," the "Interfax" quotes Boris Johnson as saying.

Let us remind you that on November 30, Russia's Ombudsperson Tatiana Moskalkova demanded to speed up the investigation into the case of Maxim Lapunov, a native of the Omsk Region, the only person who publicly reported his detention and torture in Chechnya in connection with his homosexual orientation. On October 16, at a press conference, Maxim Lapunov said he had spent 12 days in a basement, where he was beaten and intimidated.

Full text of the article is available on the Russian page of 24/7 Internet agency ‘Caucasian Knot’.