A video (see above) compiled by Human Rights Watch (HRW), clearly shows disturbing footage of these gangs as they set upon gay men. The gangs humiliate, punch and kick their victims, also forcing them to torture themselves.The release by HRW coincides with the start of the 2014 Winter Olympics, which is being held in the Russian city of Sochi. It is just one of a number of protests and campaigns being organized to highlight the plight of gay people in Russia. Earlier today , as Russia paraded the Olympic torch through Sochi, ahead of the opening ceremony in two days' time, protests were being held around the world against the its anti-gay legislation. reports Time human-rights activists as saying that the evidence has been compiled from videos recorded by the the gangs themselves.These self-styled anti-gay vigilante thugs have taken their lead from the insidious anti-gay law promoted by President Vladimir Putin, which was introduced in 2013. The attackers, who style themselves, erroneously, as "defenders of Russian children" and carry out their barbaric acts under names such as Occupy Pedohiles, have, HRW say , been galvanized by the "surge of anti-gay rhetoric from Russian leaders and media figures" responsible for promoting the official Russian ban on so-called gay "propaganda." According to Time, HRW has met with one a 28-year-old victim of the thugs, who told the campaigners that "police had yet to carry out a meaningful investigation or identify any of the suspects on tape."Based in the US, Human Rights Watch (HRW) is an international non-governmental organization that conducts research and advocacy on human rights. As well as its HQ in New York City, HRW has offices in a number of other countries throughout the world, in Amsterdam, Beirut, Berlin, Brussels, Chicago, Geneva, Johannesburg, London, Los Angeles, Moscow, Paris, San Francisco, Tokyo, Toronto, and Washington, DC.Among its financial contributors is the Open Society Foundations (OSF), the grant-making organization founded in 1993 by George Soros , the Hungarian-born American business magnate, investor and philanthropist.In 2011, the OSF provided $100 million (of the $128 million received in contributions and grants by HRW), which will be paid out over 10 years in $10 million annual instalments.This evening, on Channel 4, at 9 p.m., the British journalist and television presenter Liz MacKean will present disturbing evidence of the abuses of gay people in Russia, in Hunted, a Dispatches special.