Chechnya is no place to be if you are homosexual. The Middle Ages is not over here. The 21st century has not arrived. Some stories of intense cruelty and slaughter go by the boards. Others stand out according to whatever the world is concerned about.
These days anything that looks like hatred of a group is high on the list of attention-getters. Police in the southern Russia Republic of Chechnya have reportedly rounded up more than 100 men on suspicion that they are homosexual. They are said to have killed three or more. The story is not standing still.
Denial
According to CBS a report of this roundup and killing surfaced Saturday in Russia's respected Novaya Gazeta. The Chechen government contends that there are no homosexuals in the country which is predominantly Muslim. They deny all persecution charges.
Putin's pitbull?
The head of Chechnya's government is President Ramzan Kadyrov who has been accused of many Human Rights violations. He has been called Putin's pitbull. Discussing the closeness of the two leaders, the Sun in London reports that Kadyrov was a former Chechnya separatist who changed sides on the way to being installed as president.
If half the things that have been reported by respected human rights organizations are true, the president joins other heads of nations in the category of criminal.
This does not prevent him from palling around with the likes of Steven Seagal. Among the things he has been accused of are murders, disappearances, and tortures.
The story spreads
The story of the homosexual roundup is spreading and it remains a large question whether the Chechnya denials will hold. On Twitter, the story is clearly developing as the following tweet suggests.
Authorities in Chechnya are systematically arresting and killing gays, reports say. Gov’t denies gays even exist. https://t.co/a27kL5xLSM pic.twitter.com/KtBtHdyTxm
— Clifford Levy (@cliffordlevy) April 1, 2017
The focus on homosexuals may be new and an evolution of hatred in a dictatorial environment where violence breeds counterviolence and there is a sense of tangible decline.
Meanwhile, Kadyrov continues his repressive reign and denial appears to be his basic MO.
“Frankly, it’s hard to find cases of clear-cut evidence of Mr. Kadyrov’s personal involvement, but it does seem like various people who appear to be inconvenient to Mr. Kadyrov have a tendency to die a violent death,” said the Sun quoting Tanya Lokshina, of Human Rights Watch.
