On Friday, January 11, the Associated Press published a reportwhich revealed that several people had recently been detained in Russia’s Chechen Republic on suspicion of their sexual orientation.
According to the AP, which cited activist Igor Kochetkov, several men and women suspected of being gay have been detained since December 2018. Kochetkov did not state the exact number of detainees, though later reports stated that two detainees died under torture.
Investigative outlet Novaya Gazetya – which was the first media outlet to report on Chechnya’s gay purge in April 2017– also confirmed the reports of renewed persecution against the LGBTQ community in Chechnya.