A Russian newspaper confirmed to The New York Times that men of age 16 to 50 are disappearing in Chechnya. This only affirms earlier local rumors that gay men are being arrested and killed in the area.
As reported by The New York Times, The paper claims that the men were detained “in connection with their nontraditional sexual orientation, or suspicion of such.”
A spokesmen of Chechnya’s leader has since denied the claim.
“You cannot arrest or repress people who just don’t exist in the republic. If such people existed in Chechnya, law enforcement would not have to worry about them, as their own relatives would have sent them to where they could never return.” Spokesman Ramzan Kadyroz said.
