Chechen reportedly abducted in Grozny for being queer

A Chechen man and two of his acquaintances have been abducted by the police because of their sexuality, local human rights activists have reported.

On 25 July, footage emerged showing Rizvan Dadayev, a resident of Grozny, being interrogated by an unknown individual who coerces him into admitting that he ‘wanted to meet a guy for sex’.

Igor Kochetkov, a human rights activist and former director of the Russian LGBT+ Network, said that Dadayev ‘may be in mortal danger’, citing the ‘numerous cases of disappearance and torture of homosexual and bisexual people in Chechnya’.

The activist said that he had sent a request to the Investigative Committee, Prosecutor’s Office, and Russian Commissioner for Human Rights, asking them to identify the individuals responsible for detaining the man and filming the video, to investigate the legality of their actions, and to locate and question Dadayev regarding a potential violation of his rights.

Kochetkov added that Dadayev’s acquaintances were afraid to turn to law enforcement agencies ‘for obvious reasons’.

According to SOS North Caucasus, a Telegram channel supporting queer North Caucasians and their families, Dadayev’s acquaintances have claimed that the police were responsible for detaining the man and releasing the video.

OC Media