Gay teen in Chechnya pushed from 9th floor balcony after being outed
Ramzan Kadyrov, Chechnya’s leader, where allegations of anti-gay purges have been rife since 2017. (NATALIA KOLESNIKOVA/AFP/Getty Images)
A gay teen in Chechnya has been brutally killed by his uncle after he was outed to his family.
The anonymous 17-year-old was pushed from a balcony from the ninth floor of a building.
The teenager’s family was reportedly encouraged to “wash the shame” away of their gay relative.
The heart wrenching story of the teen’s murder comes after a survivor of the gay purge in Chechnya opened up to a Russian magazine about their experience of growing up in the extremist region.
The anonymous survivor explained that while he managed to escape the dire region, where hundreds of men have been detained and killed for their sexuality, others were not so lucky.
He said: “Others were caught, killed and their bodies were thrown into the yard of their families, in some cases, the bodies just passed away, because according to Islamic laws, gay bodies are not necessary to bury.”
Speaking to Snob magazine, the survivor explained that the story of the teen was recounted to him after he came out as gay to his religious leader.
The anonymous man said that after he came out he was met with “horror, disappointment and disgust” from the “mullah” – a Muslim leader training in Islamic theology and sacred law.
The religious leader reportedly told the man that he should leave Chechnya because of the “shame”.
“As a Chechen and as a man I do not want to see you here. Neither in the mosque, nor in this district. I want you to leave now, because everything you said is the most disgusting thing you can find out.
“I hope your relatives have the dignity to wash away your shame. Go away,” the religious leader said.
Petition: Stop the persecution of gay men in Chechnya
The anonymous survivor said that the persecution in the region had been going on since 2009, and many people were forced into paying the police up to 100,000 rubles ($1,720) to avoid torture.
Disabled people and BME minorities also being targeted according to the man.
Police in Chechnya issued a warning to parents of gay people to kill their children before police had to kill them in torture camps.
Reports have revealed concentration style camps that homosexual men are being forced into, sparking an outcry from LGBT and human rights activists across the world.
The Russian Government finally announced today that it would investigate the persecution of gay men in the region, just days after German Chancellor Angela Merkel publicly pressed Russian President Vladimir Putin to do just that during a rare summit between the two leaders.
