Russian authorities refuse to react to rights violations of Chechen residents

The information about the fabrication of the criminal case against the Chechen rights defender Oyub Titiev, persecutions of gays, "honour killings" and extrajudicial executions in Chechnya has not been confirmed, members of the Russian delegation told the UN Committee against Torture (CaT).

The "Caucasian Knot" has reported that on July 25, Claude Heller, a member of the CaT, expressed his concern over the situation in Northern Caucasus in the context of extrajudicial executions, torture and kidnappings. Russian rights defenders had urged the UN to pay attention to human rights violations in Chechnya, in particular, persecutions of the LGBT community.

Law enforcers' actions in relation to detainees are within the law, Valery Maksimenko, the head of the chief department for supervising the investigation of the Russian General Prosecutor's Office (GPO), has stated at the UN session.

He has assured that the statement of Oyub Titiev, the head of the Grozny office of the Human Rights Centre (HRC) "Memorial", that the drug had been planted on him at detention was not confirmed. Same was with the statements of the LGBT activist Maxim Lapunov about torture in Grozny, and reports about the extrajudicial execution of 27 persons in Chechnya in 2017, he has stated.

The "Russian LGBT Network" has posted its conclusions from the speech of the above GPO's official at the UN session on its Facebook. According to Maksimenko, investigators "have revealed no gays in Chechnya and have no information about 'honour killings'."

Claude Heller has objected by saying that there were "very many" reports about torture of LGBT activists in Chechnya.