Chechen pop star missing for three months believed to be rounded up in anti-gay assaults

A Chechen pop singer has been missing for three months, and human rights groups believe he’s fallen victim to the quasi-independent nation’s vigorous anti-gay attacks.

Zelimkhan Bakaev departed Moscow on Aug. 6 for his sister’s wedding in Chechnya. Within two days he was missing after arriving in the capital of Grozny.

Tanya Lokshina, a Moscow-based activist at Human Rights Watch, told NBC News he was likely rounded up by agents of the Chechen government, where he once excelled to stardom.

“There were quite a few witnesses,” she told the network. “He was dragged into a car, and he disappeared. It’s been about three months.”

It’s considered dangerous to be gay in Chechnya, a half-autonomous province in Russia, whose leader has denied the purges are taking place.

Bakaev never said in public he was gay, but it was rumored throughout Russia, according to NBC News.

Reports spilled out last month that he was tortured and murdered, but those were unconfirmed.

“It is indeed possible he's alive, and we hope if he's alive he will be released,” Lokshina told NBC News.


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