April 21, 2021
Anti-Gay Chechen Officials Accused of Crimes Against Humanity
Emell Adolphus READ TIME: 1 MIN.
After Chechen militia leader Ramzan Kadyrov infamously claimed there are no gay men in Chechnya, five officials with ties to Kadyrov are accused of crimes against humanity for efforts to violently erase the Russian republic of LGBTQ people.
As reported by The Guardian, Germany's European Center for Constitutional and Human Rights (ECCHR) and the Russian LGBT Network, filed a criminal complaint against Kadyrov's associates in Karlsruhe, Germany. If the general prosecutor in the city decides to take on the case, the five associates will be arrested on sight in Germany.
"The 97-page charge sheet, extracts of which have been seen by the Guardian, accuses the Chechen military and state apparatus of persecution, unlawful arrests, torture, sexual violence and incitement to murder at least 150 individuals on the basis of their sexual orientation since February 2017," the news outlet reports.
Over the years, Chechenya's anti-gay policies have been well-documented. In March 2021, Chechen authorities arrested 20 people related to two gay brothers.
After the brothers fled persecution to Russia, they were arrested and sent back by Russian police. In fact, attempts to hold Kadyrov accountable for his anti-gay policies have mostly failed because of the country's unwillingness to get involved or his critics disappearing.
"Chechen leaders could now be charged in Germany because the country has implemented the legal principle of universal jurisdiction for crimes against humanity, allowing prosecution in its courts even if the crimes happened elsewhere.
