"Russian LGBT Network": the police urged relatives of Chechen gays to kill them

In Chechnya, the police offered the relatives of Ismail Isaev and Salekh Magamadov - brothers, moderators of the opposition Telegram channel - to kill them. Writes about this "Dozhd'' with reference to the representative of the "Russian LGBT Network".

Friends of Isaev and Magamedov said that the brothers' relatives were summoned to the police almost every day, where they were “interviewed”, during which they called to commit “honor killings” of young people.

The brothers are now in a pre-trial detention center in Grozny. Their lawyers are going to ask the head of the Investigative Committee, Alexander Bastrykin, to transfer the brothers' case to another region of Russia. They also intend to demand that Chechen investigators ensure the safety of the young men and prohibit giving information about them to everyone, including their relatives.

Brothers Magamadov and Isaev are moderators of the opposition telegram channel “Osal nakh 95”. In April 2020, they were detained on suspicion of leaving offensive posts, comments and pictures of other people on the telegram. After that, one of the detainees publicly apologized. In July of the same year, the Russian LGBT Network helped both of them leave Chechnya for Nizhny Novgorod. On February 4, the young men were again detained and forcibly taken back to Chechnya.

On February 24, the Supreme Court of the Chechen Republic recognized the arrest of Salekh Magamadov and Ismail Isaev as legal. Young people are accused of aiding terrorists. They allegedly handed over food to a member of the illegal armed group, Rustam Borchishvili, who was killed in October 2020.

The "Russian LGBT Network" believes that a criminal case against young men can be fabricated, and confessions obtained under torture. On March 17, the brothers' mother Zara Magamadova recorded a video appeal to the Ombudsman for Human Rights in the Russian Federation, Tatyana Moskalkova, asking for help to her sons.

Moskalkova appealed to the Prosecutor General's Office and asked to check the detention of Isaev and Magamadov. On March 23, the materials of the case were transferred to the Investigative Committee of Chechnya.

On March 24, the Russian LGBT Network announced the arrest of about 20 relatives of Isaev and Magamadov. They were interrogated for several hours, demanding to know where the parents of the young people were. After that, the Grozny State Television and Radio Broadcasting Company published on Instagram a video with the brothers' relatives who cursed human rights defenders. Zara Magamadova believes that family members were intimidated and forced to record this video. Because of the incident, the Russian LGBT Network decided to complain to the IC.

Source: Daily Afisha