01 July 2020, 08:33
Gay Lapunov treats HBO film about torturing homosexuals in Chechnya as realistic
The documentary "Welcome to Chechnya" premiered in the USA shows precisely the persecution of people for their sexual orientation in this republic, Maxim Lapunov, the film hero, has stated.
The film tells about LGBT activists working undercover to help residents of Chechnya escape persecutions for sexual orientation, get visas and asylum.
The film heroes are real homosexuals who became victims of "witch-hunting" in Chechnya.
The main heroes' faces are hidden by a special technique, but one of them agreed to act under his name – Maxim Lapunov, who is now outside Russia. He told the "Dozhd" (Rain) TV Channel that he had observed a very cruel attitude towards gays in Chechnya.
"One guy got his head smashed, it was then sewn from pieces," said Lapunov.
He has noted that he had received no reaction from Russian law enforcement bodies to torture in Chechnya.
In October 2017, Maxim Lapunov, a native of the Omsk Region, said that he was detained in Chechnya on suspicion of his homosexuality and spent 12 days in the basement of the criminal investigation department, where he was beaten up.
Lapunov's case is unique because he is the first "applicant of this kind," said Veronica Lapina, an employee of the Russian LGBT Network. Before him, none of the detainees in Chechnya reported torture due to sexual orientation.
This article was originally published on the Russian page of 24/7 Internet agency ‘Caucasian Knot’ on June 30, 2020 at 11:41 pm MSK. To access the full text of the article, click here.
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