Russia's minister of Justice has claimed that there is no evidence of ongoing violence against LGBTIQ+ people in Chechnya, following an investigation conducted by the Russian government.
"The investigation showed that there were not even any such incidents," Alexander Konovalov told earlier this week.
He continued: "There weren’t even representatives of LGBTI in Chechnya. We weren’t able to find anyone."
Konovalov's comments follow similar statements made last year by Alvi Karimov, Chechnya's president, who insisted Chechen gay people simply did no exist.
"You cannot arrest or repress people who just don’t exist in the republic," a spokesman for Karimov said.
He added: "If such people existed in Chechnya, law enforcement would not have to worry about them, as their own relatives would have sent them to where they could never return."
The investigation follows shocking reports from LGBTIQ+ advocacy groups and , which have claimed that around 200 gay and bisexual men may have already been detained and as many as 26 killed in concentration camps erected in Chechnya.
Konovalov said that Russia was endeavoring to verify "all allegations of possible violations of human rights of the law of the Russian Federation", adding that claims had been made "without any concrete evidence".
