Welcome to Worldcrunch’s LGBTQ+ International. We bring you up-to-speed each week on the latest on everything LGBTQ+ — from all corners of the planet. This week, we feature an interview with Salman Mukaev, a Chechen facing extradition to Russia; Mukaev opened up to Russian-language independent medium Vazhnyye Istorii about his ordeal, which started when Russian authorities accused him of being homosexual — and tortured him for it. But first, the latest news…
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TW: This content may address topics and include references to violence that some may find distressing
5 things to know right now
• Russia vs. Duolingo: Russia’s federal censorship agency, Roskomnadzor, has announced an investigation into the language-learning app Duolingo for potential “distribution of LGBTQ+ propaganda.” This follows a complaint filed by an activist organization in Novosibirsk, citing concerns from parents about sentences within the app referring to the existence of LGBTQ+ individuals. The investigation comes after a Russian court’s decision last week to fine photographer Inna Mosina for posting a rainbow flag on social media. Russia’s actions against perceived LGBTQ+ content and symbols have escalated since the Supreme Court’s ban on the “international LGBTQ+ public movement” in November. Several individuals have faced charges for displaying or wearing “extremist symbols” following the ban.
• Nepal’s first officially registered lesbian marriage makes history: Anju Devi Shrestha and Suprita Gurung have become Nepal’s first officially registered marriage of a lesbian couple earlier this week. Their union, recognized following a Supreme Court ruling in 2022, reflects Nepal’s progressive stance on LGBTQ+ rights, with the country legalizing same-sex marriage in 2007 and further reinforcing it in the 2015 constitution. At the end of November, Nepal’s government recognized a marriage between Nepalis of the same legal gender for the first time. At the time, Human Rights Watch said that although the nuptials “certainly signal a bright future, there remains work to be done to ensure other couples can access relationship recognition on equal footing.”
• Pope Francis calls out hypocrisy of same-sex blessing critics: Pope Francis has defended his decision to allow priests to bless same-sex couples, criticizing the “hypocrisy” of those who oppose it. The Vatican’s authorization of LGBTQ+ blessings through the document Fiducia Supplicans faced resistance, notably from African bishops. The Pope stated in an interview that he welcomes LGBTQ+ individuals and remarried divorcees to confession and emphasized that denying blessings to anyone is wrong. Francis clarified that such blessings do not signify formal Catholic Church approval for same-sex unions.
• More than half of London’s LGBTQ+ venues closed since 2006: Greater London Authority data shows that more than half of London’s LGBTQ+ venues closed between 2006 and 2022, with their numbers falling from 125 to 50. The closures are not linked to discrimination — instead, rising rents and the cost-of-living crisis are cited as key reasons behind the downward trend that’s affecting the whole city, with the number of pubs and bars in the British capital falling by more than 25% since 2001.
• Spain’s first “out” matador: Mario Alcalde, Spain’s first openly LGBTQ+ matador, believes more bullfighters will come out after revealing his pansexuality. Alcalde recently disclosed his sexual orientation, stating that there have always been gay people in bullfighting who remained silent. He aims to establish a meeting place for bullfighting supporters in Madrid’s LGBTQ+ community of Chueca. While some welcome his announcement, others express reservations about mixing the conservative bullfighting with the progressive LGBTQ+ scene. Bullfighting, a controversial tradition, has faced criticism for its cruelty, and despite declining popularity, Alcalde defends it as cultural heritage.
When The Police Torture Of A Straight Man Shows How Vile Anti-Gay Hatred Is In Russia
A court in Yerevan, Armenia, finally granted asylum late last month to Salman Mukaev, a Chechen facing extradition back to Russia. His story is unique, and offers a glimpse of the homophobia that’s rampant in Russian security forces.
Mukaev had sought asylum in Armenia for more than two years after Chechnya opened a case against him for illegal storage of ammunition. Mukaev said the charges were fabricated, and that he had actually been arrested and tortured over suspicions of homosexuality.
During his detention, he had been pressured to meet with gay men and hand them over to the security forces.
According to human rights activists from the crisis group SK SOS, Mukaev is the first heterosexual Chechen to report torture over suspected homosexuality.
Russian independent news websiteVazhnyye istorii reports the details for the first time of Mukaev’s disturbing story.
In January 2020, Mukaev received a call from a police officer saying that his phone number was linked to a bank fraud case. Mukaev, who had no prior contact from scammers or suspicious activity with his number or bank cards, found the call alarming. He questioned why he was being contacted and decided to switch off his phone and hide it in the basement, deleting all data. Reflecting on the situation, Mukaev acknowledged the dangers people in Chechnya face and felt uneasy about the police’s insistence. He said that if he had known what would unfold, he would have left Chechnya immediately.
Mukaev, 41, spent most of his life in Grozny, the capital city of the southern Russian province of Chechnya. Growing up without a father, he was a teenager during the tumultuous periods of war in the republic. To support his family financially, he began working at a young age. In the mid-2000s, he lived in Austria and Germany, where he was employed on construction sites. Upon returning home, he followed his grandmother’s advice and got married. Recently, he worked as a merchandiser in a shopping center in Grozny, occasionally taking up part-time work in Moscow for several months at a time.
Mukaev says that prior to his arrest, he engaged in conversations on the Meet24 messenger, a popular free dating app in Chechnya. “I used it to chat with girls,” he explains. “While the app offers anonymity, I did share my phone number with a few individuals I felt comfortable with during our chats. Our interactions were innocuous. I met with a few girls casually, just chatting and hanging out in cafes. Perhaps I was seeking some enjoyment to make up for past experiences.”
A week later, security forces began contacting Mukaev’s wife, inquiring about his whereabouts. When she remained silent, they visited her family’s residence and issued threats. “We had no other option,” Mukaev says. “With my wife’s consent, she provided our home address. Shortly after, three officers arrived at our home dressed in civilian attire. Despite their initial polite demeanor, they claimed there was phone number fraud and needed to conduct a swift investigation, assuring my return within a few hours.”
On February 13, Mukaev was taken to the Leninsky District Department of Internal Affairs in Grozny, where he was held for seven days.
Mukaev was taken to a police station where, in a small office on the second floor, he was subjected to serious beatings and torture. “There were about 10 people in the office, and I felt scared,” he recalls. “One of the policemen showed me a screenshot on his phone, displaying a chat with my profile photo from the social network Odnoklassniki and my old number. I confirmed the number was mine, and suddenly, they threw me to the floor and began beating me.”
“Despite my compliance with their demands, they beat me with pipes, tortured me with electric shocks and slammed my head against the floor. It seemed they were inflicting torture for sheer amusement. Before I could grasp the situation, they placed a bag over my head, attached wires to my fingers, and administered electric shocks. I feared I wouldn’t survive,” Mukaev says.
Even years later, Mukaev’s recollection of the brutal treatment remains vivid, and he says he still has nightmares of the horrors. “After some time, they removed the bag, seated me on a chair and began choking me. Nearly everyone participated, except for one individual who sat calmly on the couch, engrossed in his phone as if detached from the scene,” he says.
“After that, they connected wires to my little fingers and started shocking me, demanding that I confess that I was gay. They showed me a photo of some beaten guy whom I had never seen in my life. They claimed that I met him,” he says.
In Mukaev’s phone, the torturers found only the number of a friend with whom Mukaev had spoken a few days ago. They extracted the man’s address from Mukaev and a few hours later he too was taken to the police station. Now at the police department they were beaten together:
“We couldn’t tolerate the shock and beatings anymore. They turned on the camera and, threatening to kill us, demanded that we said we were gay. After recording the video, they took me into a cell in the temporary detention center. The next day, they continued beating me.”
— Read the full Important Stories article by Varuzhan Sargsyan translated from Russian into English by Worldcrunch here.
OTHERWISE
Here are some other great LGBTQ+ reads we spotted for you this week:
• From Euronews: Can Europe resist the anti-LGBT politics of hate?
• From Erasing 76 Crimes: Pride to Prejudice: Queer Nigerians love social media — and hate it
• From FairPlanet: How Indonesia’s election affects the queer community
• From PinkNews: The fascinating history of the lesbian slang terms “stud” and “stem”
• From The Guardian: “This can’t be art, there’s too much fun!” Doron Langberg on his sex-fuelled queer rave paintings
