Chechen leadership has dismissed a report claiming that two gay men were killed and dozens more have been detained in Russia’s North Caucasus republic.

A report by the Russian LGBT Network released Monday said that at least two gay men have been tortured to death in Chechnya since persecutions escalated dramatically there two weeks ago. Amnesty International has called on the international community to take steps to protect members of the besieged LGBT community in Chechnya against the renewed “spine-chilling” crackdown.

On Tuesday, the majority Muslim republic’s minister of information Dzhambulat Umarov dismissed the St. Petersburg-based LGBT Network’s report as “utter crap.”