A gay man from Chechnya has spoken out about his experiences in the nation, being rounded up and tortured by police for his sexual orientation.
Amin Dzhabrailov is one of a number of gay men to escape the nation, and to speak with ABC news program Nightline about the horrors facing LGBTQ Chechens. The former hairdresser says the torture began in 2017 when police kidnapped him from his salon and threw him in the trunk of a car. Those same men imprisoned Dzhabrailov, cuffed him to a chair, beat and electrocuted him in hopes of extracting the names of other gay men.
“They tell me that they know that I’m gay, and [to] tell [them] about more gay guys,” Dzhabrilov says. “The sense was [they would] probably just torture them also. … I didn’t give any name[s].”
In hopes of extracting information, the police also told Dzhabrilov he was about to be executed. “They took off my shoes… and they put me on the wall, put [a] bag on my head,” he recalls. “That guy charged his gun, and put [it] right here on my head. And I started painting the wall with my blood. And he said that it’s my last seconds.”
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Dzhabrilov is one of an estimated hundreds of men to undergo torture or even execution in Chechnya for their sexual orientation. Chechnya, a semi-autonomous Russian state, ramped up its persecution of LGBTQ citizens after Moscow loyalist Radzman Kadyrov ascended to the nation’s Presidency. In interviews, Kadyrov denies gay people exist in Chechnya, and refers to them as sub-human. He also encourages families to disown or even murder gay relatives, claiming government authorities would look the other way.
PLAYS WELL WITH OTHERS
What is pretty disgusting is that there are many in the current misadministration in DC that would be on board with these policies..
Toofie
Just horrendous.
TheMarc
They can pretend their hate is rooted in some “anti-depravity” or religious logic; but it’s really about their fragile insecurities. They allow far worse “sins” to occur right under their noses and do nothing. And we’re an easy target. They are attacking harmless, good and productive people. An interesting constant that you hear about in these types of countries (Uganda, Chechnya, Russia, Saudi Arabia, etc.) is that some of the torture involves some form of sexual assault. If they were truly so anti-gay; why commit these horrific sexual atrocities on top of everything else? Because they’re insecure, weak monsters. Period. There is absolutely no logical excuse for this behavior. None.
I grew up reading comics. Mainly Marvel’s X-Men comics; in case you’re not familiar, at it’s root it deals with a marginalized, super powered, minority community referred to as mutants. One particular aspect of the story of the X-Men is a land that is solely for mutantkind, Genosha. It’s basically an-all mutant safe haven. As silly as it sounds, I sincerely wish I could create a “Genosha” for gays. Some place where gays from all over the world can come and be free of persecution, violence, torture, etc.
We have our struggles here; but we must never forget how “good” we have it here compared to other countries. That certainly does not mean we stop or tame our fight. It’s just a reminder that whatever victories we win on the home front, we need to be aware there are still more fights to be had elsewhere that are worthy of and demand our attention and support.
Cam
Monsters
Vince
Whether you like gays or not I don’t imagine anyone daring enough to complain. Anyone that gets in Kadyrovs way will meet the same fate. They guys a murdering sociopath.