Moscow’s probe into an anti-gay purge in Chechnya might be preliminary, but its effects are anything but. Russia’s Investigative Committee has not opened a single criminal case, and local authorities are already panicking, reported Novaya Gazeta, the newspaper that broke the original story.

One by one, high-rank officials have lined up to make statements about their newfound tolerance of the LGBT community. Magomed Dashayev, head of the Grozny police, suggested he would even allow a gay parade in the center of Chechen capital Grozny.

Other officials have closed ranks, according to Novaya Gazeta. Some ignored interrogation subpoenas altogether, citing bad health. Those who spoke to investigators “looked nervous and denied everything.”

The probe, which has been sanctioned by the Kremlin, is a first for Chechnya. Up until now, the republic’s notorious leader, Ramzan Kadyrov, had been left alone as a quid pro quo for pacifying the one-time warring region. Never before had his private fiefdom been rattled by an external inspection.

For human rights activists, it is an unprecedented opportunity — though few entertain serious hopes for change.

A serious turn

When Yelena Milashina of the Novaya Gazeta newspaper broke the story in early April, the details were so shocking as to be scarcely believable. Over 100 gay men had been brutally detained, locked up in secret prisons, tortured and coerced into revealing the names of friends and partners.

According to Milashina’s reports, at least four men were killed. One was reportedly an employee of the National Guard (this detail has subsequently been denied by an official spokesman.) Another victim was a non-Chechen who had visited Chechnya in early March. He had been arrested and then released, the reports said; After leaving the region, Chechen security forces found him again, and killed him.

The persecution extended past government prisons. After being released, men were confronted by their “shamed” families, and subjected to the danger of so-called honor killings. At least one man was killed by relatives.



