Chechen authorities have allegedly rounded up more than 100 men who are suspected to be gay and subjected to torture and murder, according to a Russian newspaper and human rights campaigners.

Newspaper Novaya Gazeta found that dozens of men aged between 16 and 50 had mysteriously disappeared off the streets and three people were killed in the round up. Among the men were well known faces on local television and religious leaders.

“In Chechnya, the command was given for a ‘prophylactic sweep’ and it went as far as real murders,” Novaya Gazeta reported, adding that authorities posed as men looking for dates online.

Spokesman for Chechnya’s leader Ramzan Kadyrov, Alvi Karimov, said the report was “absolute lies and disinformation” and claimed gay people did not exist in the state.

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

It is the first time gay people in Chechnya have been targeted on such a scale, said Tatyana Lokshina of the Human Rights Watch in Moscow.

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

“It’s a vicious attack against LGBT people. It’s happened for several weeks under order of leadership,” she told The Independent, adding she had heard the information from various sources, including people on the ground.

“They beat them up viciously, they torture them, they humiliate them, and there are reports that three people have been killed,” she said.

The arrests allegedly started 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.

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

Chechnya’s leader has come under fire for forcing women to wear the hijab in public places, encouraged polygamy and has put the semi-independent state through two shattering wars.

The Kremlin-backed Republic is strictly conservative, with a majority of people who are Sunni Muslims, and gay people who reveal their sexuality often suffer discrimination and are shunned by their families.

Some men caught in the round-up were handed back to their families, according to Novaya Gazeta, with the expectation their family would perform an honour killing.

Men have reportedly been deleting their online accounts and the Russian newspaper posted contact information to help LGBT people flee.