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Merkel presses Putin over anti-gay purge in Chechnya
Source: The Guardian
Merkel presses Putin over anti-gay purge in Chechnya
German chancellor raises reports of torture and persecution of
gay men during joint press conference with Russian president
Kate Connolly in Berlin
Tuesday 2 May 2017 17.37 BST
Angela Merkel has urged Vladimir Putin to investigate reports of the torture and persecution of gay men in Chechnya and to ensure the safety of LGBT people across the region.
The German chancellor, making her first visit to Russia for two years, in a trip described by her officials as bridge-building mission, said she had raised the issue with the Russian president along with other human rights concerns.
A violent crackdown on gay people in Chechnya was first reported in the newspaper Novaya Gazeta, which has alleged that more than 100 Chechen men suspected of being gay have been rounded up and at least three killed. The Guardian has independently spoken to gay Chechen men who gave accounts of beatings and torture in the ultra-conservative, predominantly Muslim southern Russian republic.
The Kremlin has supported the Chechen leader Ramzan Kadyrov’s denials of an anti-gay purge, arguing that it has no information to back research carried out by journalists and human rights organisations.
[font size=1]-snip-[/font]
German chancellor raises reports of torture and persecution of
gay men during joint press conference with Russian president
Kate Connolly in Berlin
Tuesday 2 May 2017 17.37 BST
Angela Merkel has urged Vladimir Putin to investigate reports of the torture and persecution of gay men in Chechnya and to ensure the safety of LGBT people across the region.
The German chancellor, making her first visit to Russia for two years, in a trip described by her officials as bridge-building mission, said she had raised the issue with the Russian president along with other human rights concerns.
A violent crackdown on gay people in Chechnya was first reported in the newspaper Novaya Gazeta, which has alleged that more than 100 Chechen men suspected of being gay have been rounded up and at least three killed. The Guardian has independently spoken to gay Chechen men who gave accounts of beatings and torture in the ultra-conservative, predominantly Muslim southern Russian republic.
The Kremlin has supported the Chechen leader Ramzan Kadyrov’s denials of an anti-gay purge, arguing that it has no information to back research carried out by journalists and human rights organisations.
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Read more: https://www.theguardian.com/world/2017/may/02/angela-merkel-vladimir-putin-russia-investigate-lgbt-torture-claims-chechnya
