31 March 2021, 11:18
Chechnya mentioned specially in US DoS' report on human rights in Russia
Russian regions see violations of rights of journalists, prisoners and political activists, states the annual report of the US Department of State (DoS), published on March 30. Separately, the DoS mentioned the human rights situation in Chechnya, in particular, extrajudicial executions, torture and murders of gays, oppression of women and repressions against Kadyrov's critics in Europe.
"Credible NGOs and independent media have published reports that from December 2018 to January 2019, local authorities in the Chechen Republic resumed the campaign of violence against the individuals-members of the lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and intersex (LGBTI) community. According to the NGO "Russian LGBT Network", Chechen authorities detained and tortured at least 40 persons, including two who reportedly died in custody from torture," the DoS' report says.
The report has also touched on the murders of Kadyrov's critics living in Europe. In 2020, there were two murders and one attempt on the life of Kadyrov's critics in Europe.
Section B of the report on the situation in Russia, telling about kidnappings, once again draws attention to Chechnya and especially notes the kidnapping and torture of Salman Tepsurkaev, the moderator of the "1Adat" Telegram channel.
In September 2020, a video in which a naked Tepsurkaev sits on a bottle, explaining that he was doing this as a punishment for his cooperation with the "1Adat" Telegram channel, which criticizes Chechen authorities, triggered a broad resonance. Since then, his family could not contact him.
This article was originally published on the Russian page of 24/7 Internet agency ‘Caucasian Knot’ on March 31, 2021 at 03:36 am MSK. To access the full text of the article, click here.
