Chechen authorities are reportedly urging parents to kill their gay children, according to one of the survivors of the country’s “gay torture camp.”
The man, who has not been identified, said the police have been telling parents of gay men to “sort it out” or the state will intervene. “We’ve always been persecuted, but never like this. Now they arrest everyone. They kill ... do whatever they want,” he told France24.
“They tell the parents to kill their child. They say ‘Either you do it, or we will. They call it: ‘Cleaning your honour with blood,’” he said. “They tortured a man for two weeks then they summoned his parents and brothers who all came. Police said to them: ‘Your son is a homosexual – sort it out or we’ll do it ourselves.’”
Another survivor, named only as Anzor, told AP that the torture felt like: ‘like they are breaking every bone of every joint in your body at the same time.’
Last month, there were reports the Chechen authorities had allegedly rounded up more than 100 men who were suspected to be gay. Many were tortured and at least four were allegedly killed. However, a spokesman for President Ramzan Kadyrov said the news was “absolute lies and disinformation” and claimed gay people did not exist in the state.
