Since February, Chechnya has been accused of kidnapping and imprisoning over 100 gay or bisexual men, purely based on their sexual orientation.  There have been reports of an unknown number of these captives who have already been killed in captivity.  They have reportedly faced torture and humiliation.

Ramzan Kadyrov, Head of the Chechnyan Republic, has a long history of brutal policies.  He noted his approval for honor killings toward women, stating that they are the property of their husbands whose main purpose is to have children–in this spirit, he is also a long time supporter of polygamy.  Chechnya had a problem with young Chechen women turning up dead, but he went on to defend their killing as they had “loose morals” and somehow deserved their fate.  The list of accusations against Kadyrov is long, with a myriad of human rights abuses including torture and death squads.  In the past months he has seemed to shift focus directly onto the LGBT community.

In an interview with “Real Sports” on HBO, he claimed that there are no gay people in Chechnya, and if there are then they should be taken away.