Activists call on Presidents Trump and Putin to stop violence in Chechnya

Before the meeting of the US and Russian Presidents in Helsinki, activists of the Human Rights Campaign (HRC) called on Donald Trump to condemn the persecution of gays in Chechnya during his conversation with Vladimir Putin.

The "Caucasian Knot" has reported that in early April 2017, the newspaper "Novaya Gazeta" reported mass persecution, torture, and a number of cases when gays were killed in Chechnya.

In Helsinki, the activists of the Human Rights Campaign have called on the Presidents of Russia and the United States to stop the persecution, torture, and murder of LGBT people in Chechnya. Last night, the appropriate call has appeared on a wall of the presidential palace in Helsinki: the activists have installed a projector on the sidewalk in front of the building to broadcast slides with appeals in English.

"Trump and Putin: Stop the Crimes against Humanity in Chechnya. Investigate Persecutions of LGBTs in Chechnya. Bring Perpetrators to Justice. The whole World is Watching. Silence is Deadly," those sentences were consistently projected to the facade of the presidential palace with the hashtag #EyesOnChechnya.

According to a video posted on the YouTube and on the HRC's website, the broadcast lasted for more than two hours.

The activists have demanded from Donald Trump to publicly oppose the persecution of LGBT people in Chechnya, condemn "those crimes against humanity" in the republic, call on Vladimir Putin to investigate the crimes, and bring the guilty persons to justice, the HRC press service quotes Ty Cobb, Director of the HRC Global, as saying at a rally held in Helsinki on July 15.

This article was originally published on the Russian page of 24/7 Internet agency ‘Caucasian Knot’ on July 16, 2018 at 05:45 pm MSK. To access the full text of the article, click here.