MOSCOW — Several people have been recently detained in Russia’s Chechnya region on suspicion of being gay, in a throwback to an earlier crackdown, activists said on Friday.
The reports come a year and a half after more than 100 gay men in Chechnya were arrested and subjected to torture, and some of them were killed, according to activists. Chechen authorities never admitted their role in the well-documented abuse, and federal authorities conducted a probe that did not produce any findings to back up the reports.
Prominent activist Igor Kochetkov said on Friday that gay rights supporters have seen a spike in detentions of men and women suspected of being gay since December.
