Gay men are being tortured and murdered in Chechen prisons, detainees have alleged.

Chechen police had rounded up more than 100 men suspected to be gay and allegedly killed at least three of them, an independent Russian newspaper reported.

Some detainees told Novaya Gazeta they were tortured and electrocuted while they were imprisoned, and others described seeing prisoners beaten to death.

The paper's initial report was denied by Chechen President Ramzan Kadyrov's spokesman, who called it "absolute lies and disinformation" and suggested there are no homosexuals in the Muslim-majority region.

“You cannot detain and persecute people who simply do not exist in the republic,” he told the Interfax news agency.

“If there were such people in Chechnya, the law-enforcement organs wouldn’t need to have anything to do with them because their relatives would send them somewhere from which there is no returning.”

However, victims told the paper they were beaten with sticks, forced to sit on bottles and had their hands electrocuted.

LGBT+ rights around the globe Show all 9 1 /9 LGBT+ rights around the globe LGBT+ rights around the globe Russia Russia’s antipathy towards homosexuality has been well established following the efforts of human rights campaigners. However, while it is legal to be homosexual, LGBT couples are offered no protections from discrimination. They are also actively discriminated against by a 2013 law criminalising LGBT “propaganda” allowing the arrest of numerous Russian LGBT activists. AFP/Getty LGBT+ rights around the globe Brunei Brunei recently introduced a law to make sodomy punishable by stoning to death. It was already illegal and punishable by up to 10 years in prison AFP/Getty LGBT+ rights around the globe Mauritania Men who are found having sex with other men face stoning, while lesbians can be imprisoned, under Sharia law. However, the state has reportedly not executed anyone for this ‘crime’ since 1987 Alamy LGBT+ rights around the globe Sudan Both male and female same-sex sexual activity is illegal under Sudanese law. Men can be executed on their third offence, women on their fourth Getty LGBT+ rights around the globe Saudi Arabia Homosexuality and gender realignment is illegal and punishable by death, imprisonment, whipping and chemical castration Getty LGBT+ rights around the globe Yemen The official position within the country is that there are no gays. LGBT inviduals, if discovered by the government, are likely to face intense pressure. Punishments range from flogging to the death penalty Getty LGBT+ rights around the globe Nigeria Both male and female same-sex sexual activity is illegal and in some northern states punishable with death by stoning. This is not a policy enacted across the entire country, although there is a prevalent anti-LGBT agenda pushed by the government. In 2007 a Pew survey established that 97% of the population felt that homosexuality should not be accepted. It is punishable by 14 years in prison Reuters LGBT+ rights around the globe Somalia Homosexuality was established as a crime in 1888 and under new Somali Penal Code established in 1973 homosexual sex can be punishable by three years in prison. A person can be put to death for being a homosexual Reuters LGBT+ rights around the globe Iraq Although same-sex relationships have been decriminalised, much of the population still suffer from intense discrimination. Additionally, in some of the country over-run by the extremist organisation Isis, LGBT individuals can face death by stoning Getty

One said he had been kept near a building where the authorities were holding suspected militants who had fought in Syria or those suspected of being in touch with jihadi fighters.

“Several times a day we were taken out and beaten,” he said. “Their main aim was to find out your circle of contacts — in their minds if you are a suspect then your circle of contacts are all gay. They kept our phones switched on. Any man who calls or texts is a new target."

The detainee also described being beaten with a plastic pipe: “They always hit us below the waist — on the thighs, the buttocks, the loins. They said we were dogs who had no right to life.”

Another victim described how one man was arrested for possession of drugs when police found pornography on his phone and used his contacts list to find other homosexuals.

Some men caught were handed back to their families, the paper reported, with the expectation their family would perform an honour killing.

The newspaper also published two photos of detainees after they were released, one showing a man with bruised buttocks and the other a man with bruised thighs.

The arrests allegedly began after gay rights group GayRussia.ru applied for permits for gay pride parades, which were denied.

The group filed the permits anyway, hoping to take the fight to the European Court of Human Rights.

In pictures: Chechnya's leader Ramzam Kadyrov's Instagram Show all 7 1 /7 In pictures: Chechnya's leader Ramzam Kadyrov's Instagram In pictures: Chechnya's leader Ramzam Kadyrov's Instagram chechnay5.jpg Chechnya's controversial leader Ramzam Kadyrov has been posting pictures on Instagram as he has a double, but he has admitted that it's just Photoshop and his aim is to 'highlight how easily people believe rumours and lies about me' In pictures: Chechnya's leader Ramzam Kadyrov's Instagram chechnay4.jpg Two pictures edited in one of Chechnya's controversial leader Ramzam Kadyrov posted on his Instagram account In pictures: Chechnya's leader Ramzam Kadyrov's Instagram chechnya2.jpg More of Chechnya's controversial leader Ramzam Kadyrov's Instagram pictures In pictures: Chechnya's leader Ramzam Kadyrov's Instagram chechnya3.jpg More of Chechnya's controversial leader Ramzam Kadyrov's Instagram pictures In pictures: Chechnya's leader Ramzam Kadyrov's Instagram chenya1.jpg One of the collages that Ramzam Kadyrov posted on his Instagram account In pictures: Chechnya's leader Ramzam Kadyrov's Instagram instagram4.jpg Pictures of the meeting of actors Gerard Depardieu and Liz Hurley with Chechnya's leader Ramzan Kadyrov In pictures: Chechnya's leader Ramzam Kadyrov's Instagram instagram1.jpg Meeting of the actors with the controversial leader of Chechnya Ramzan Kadyrov

The Kremlin-backed President Kadyrov is widely accused of extensive human rights violations.