26 November 2019, 11:16
Communication of Lapunov's complaint gives hope for investigation in Russia
Russian authorities fail to investigating the torture of Maxim Lapunov in Chechnya, but the communication of his complaint by the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) should launch this process, the advocate has stated. Human rights defenders continue evacuating gays from Chechnya, the Russian LGBT Network has informed.
The "Caucasian Knot" has reported that the ECtHR communicated Maxim Lapunov's complaint about his torture in Chechnya because of his sexual orientation. The Russian authorities must submit their position to the ECtHR by March 12, 2020. The complaint filed in May was accepted for consideration in record time.
Lapunov's case is unique, because he is the first "applicant of this kind," said Veronica Lapina, an employee of the Russian LGBT Network.
"Before him, none of the detainees in Chechnya had reported torture motivated solely by a person's sexual orientation, although we have documented more than 150 cases of violations of LGBT people's rights in Chechnya. Maxim is a very brave man," Ms Lapina has stated, adding that in 2017, Lapunov was forced to leave Russia because of threats.
She has noted that from April 2017 to today, the LGBT Network has evacuated 159 people from Chechnya.
This article was originally published on the Russian page of 24/7 Internet agency ‘Caucasian Knot’ on November 25, 2019 at 06:59 pm MSK. To access the full text of the article, click here.
Author: Oleg Krasnov Source: CK correspondent
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