Armenia refused to extradite a native of Chechnya who claimed torture

The administrative court of Yerevan refused to extradite Salman Mukayev, a native of Chechnya, to Russia, whose family was tortured because of suspicion of homosexuality. He was granted asylum and given refugee status as a person whose family is threatened with repression. This was reported by the “SC SOS” crisis group on Tuesday.

The court of Yerevan recognized that in Chechnya and in Russia as a whole, representatives of the LGBTQ+ community may be subject to persecution, repression and ill-treatment. In particular, the decision mentions new Russian norms, according to which LGBTQ+ is recognized as an extremist movement.

Salman Mukaev was detained in Chechnya in February 2020. According to human rights activists, police officers beat him, tied him with tape, suffocated him with a bag and electrocuted him, attached bare wires to his little fingers. Under torture, he was forced to confess to a sexual relationship with his friend, and was released only in exchange for “cooperation”: he had to meet men on the Internet and hand them over to the police, reports the TV channel “Nastoyastchee vremya”.

After he was released, Mukaev left for Armenia. Later it became known that in Russia he was wanted in a criminal case for illegal acquisition, transfer or storage of weapons and ammunition. Mukaev will fly from Armenia to a European country that is ready to grant him asylum. But he was stopped at passport control and told that he was wanted in Russia and could not cross the border. After that, he asked for asylum in Armenia.

• After the persecution in Chechnya, Mukaev’s family broke up: his wife was taken home by her relatives after ten years of marriage. In an interview with the website Kavkaz.Realii, Salman Mukaev talked about what happened to him in Grozny at the Ministry of Internal Affairs department, why he left Russia and how he assesses the risks of possible deportation to his family.