Gay Man’s Arrest in Chechnya Raises Human Rights Concerns
A gay Chechen man was detained over the weekend after returning to Russia to attend his fathers funeral. Idris Arsaminkov, 28, was detained on Thursday, February 16, from the Domodedovo Moscow airport.
He later released two home videos, both of which are suspected to have been filmed under duress.
In both statements, Arsamikov declares that he is a man who will soon get married and may even go to war in Ukraine “to defend the country’s honor.” The LGBTQ crisis group from Lithuania, SK SOS, has pointed to suspicious rhetorical choices and discrepancies within the video that mirror similar content released under duress.
SK SOS has said it is likely that the videos were conditional to Arsamikov’s release. The human rights group says that these videos are “public acts of ‘repentance’ and whitewashing (for) the authorities.”
Arsamikov was returning home from the Netherlands for his fathers funeral. This was his first time back in Chechnya after being granted asylum in 2018. According to SK SOS, Arsamikov had been arrested in 2017 for being in a relationship with another man. He was allegedly kept in a basement and tortured. Unfortunately, Arsamikov’s arrest is not a unique occurrence in Chechnya.
The Climate in Russia
Beginning in March of 2015, reports began to surface of gay men being beaten and disappearing in Chechnya. While reports have slowed, recent events such as Arsaminkov’s suggest that authorities may just be better at covering up their trail.
Additionally, a slew of anti-LGBTQ legislation was signed into law at the end of 2022. Most recently, the Russian President Vladimir Putin rubber-stamped an expanded ban on LGBTQ “propaganda.” The legislation is an expansion of pre-existing laws and comes as part of the Kremlin’s crack down on free speech as the situation in Ukraine unfolds.
The law makes it illegal for anyone to promote or use normalizing language when referring to non-heterosexual relationships. The amendments include heavier penalties and bans ‘gay propaganda,’ references to gender transition, and pedophilia. Any media referring to such topics has also been banned. this includes books, movies, advertising and more.
in 2017, the European Court of Human Rights deemed a previous version of this law discriminatory and in violation of the Europeans Convention on Human Rights. However, it is unlikely that relief will come anytime soon for the LGBTQ community in Russia.
The country remains rife with homophobia and discrimination. This law and similar ones are simply becoming a brazen codification of systems that are already in place and being acted upon.
