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<\/p>\nAngela Merkel Pushes Putin on Torture of Gay Men in Chechnya<\/b><\/p>\n
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German chancellor Angela Merkel took the opportunity of her first visit to Russia since 2015<\/a> to urge Putin to react\u00a0to reports of an ongoing crackdown against gay<\/a> men<\/a> in Chechnya.<\/p>\n As accounts of the detention, torture, and even murder<\/a> of gay<\/a> men<\/a> in the Russian republic in the Caucasus continue to spread, Merkel called on Putin to intercede on behalf of the persecuted:<\/p>\n At a tense joint news conference with Mr Putin, Mrs Merkel said she had received \u201cnegative reports on the treatment of homosexuals, particularly in Chechnya\u201d.<\/p>\n \u201cI asked President Putin to use his influence to guarantee the rights of minorities,\u201d she added.<\/p>\n Merkel further\u00a0raised the matter of the freedom of protesters to gather<\/a>, following the roundup of St. Petersburg LGBT activists yesterday<\/a> who sought to throw light on the urgency of the situation in Chechnya:<\/p>\n She also called for freedom of assembly to be protected, after Russian riot police arrested protesters demonstrating against the persecution.\u00a0\u201cIt\u2019s important to have the right to demonstrate in a democracy, and the role of NGOs is very important,\u201d Ms Merkel said.<\/p>\n Putin has seemed to\u00a0accept Chechen president Ramzan Kadyrov\u2019s insistence<\/a> that the reports were untrue. The grave human rights violations in Chechnya came to light last month, and\u00a0the journalist who broke the story<\/a>\u00a0has since fled for her safety.<\/p>\n The post Angela Merkel Pushes Putin on Torture of Gay Men in Chechnya<\/a> appeared first on Towleroad<\/a>.<\/p>\n