Defence appeals against extension of arrests of Chechen gays Magamadov and Isaev

In Chechnya, a court extended for a month the detention in custody of Salekh Magamadov and Ismail Isaev, and their defence filed an appeal against the court’s decision. Moreover, according to an advocate, the defence has also filed a complaint about the threat to the lives of the arrested young men, because their relatives are being persuaded to commit a so-called “honour killing.” The “Russian LGBT Network” also treats the threat to the lives of Salekh Magamadov and Ismail Isaev as real.

The "Caucasian Knot" has reported that in February, law enforcers took 20-year-old Salekh Magamadov and his brother Ismail away from Nizhny Novgorod to Chechnya.

Let us remind you that on March 23, in Chechnya, according to the “Russian LGBT Network”, law enforcers detained about 20 relatives of Salekh Magamadov and Ismail Isaev in order to reveal the whereabouts of the parents of the young men. Earlier, the brothers’ mother had recorded a video appeal to the Ombudsman. The father tried to visit his sons in a SIZO (pre-trial prison), but had to leave Chechnya because of threats. The relatives of Salekh Magamadov and Ismail Isaev were set free, and after that, the “Grozny” TV Channel disseminated a video in which the relatives of the detainees denied that the young men belonged to the LGBT community.

Salekh Magamadov and his brother were moderators of a chat in the "Osal nakh 95" (Empty People) Telegram group. In April 2020, the brothers were among the detained “Chechen bloggers.” Then a video appeared in which the detainees were apologizing for their offensive posts.