LGBT activists claim persecution of homosexual women typical for Chechnya

In Chechnya, homosexual women face risk not only of being placed to secret prisons or being subjected to alleged treatment with psychotropic substances, but also of falling victim to "honour killings," the British "Sky News" TV Channel reports in its material.

The "Caucasian Knot" has reported that on January 20, Aminat Lorsanova, a 22-year-old native of Chechnya, who left Russia with the help of the "Russian LGBT Network" in April 2019, appealed to the Investigating Committee of the Russian Federation (ICRF) with a complaint that while being in Grozny, she had been subjected to violence from her close relatives and a specialist in "exorcising of genies" invited by them.

Aminat Lorsanova had to be hidden after her emigration for the sake of her safety, reports Diana Magnay in her material posted today on the website of the British "Sky News" TV Channel in English.

The case of Aminat Lorsanova is typical for Chechnya, where, although the anti-gay purges involved mostly men, women were rounded up too and thrown into separate cells in secret prisons, believe Veronika Lapina and David Isteyev, activists of the "Russian LGBT Network". "In Chechnya, they practice conversion therapy, exorcising genies, and medical injections of psychotropic substances. This is not something new for us," Veronika Lapina added.

Transgender person Sasha, who together with partner left Chechnya in 2016, also spoke about the persecution of women in Chechnya for sexual orientation. "If my family knew about my sexuality, but it did not go public, I guess they would try to lock me up or they would make me marry someone. But if it went public I would be killed to clean the family's honour," says Sasha as quoted by the British "Sky News" TV Channel.

This article was originally published on the Russian page of 24/7 Internet agency ‘Caucasian Knot’ on June 26, 2020 at 07:25 pm MSK. To access the full text of the article, click here.