PUNISHED

U.S. Sanctions Chechen Leader Ramzan Kadyrov After Anti-Gay Purge

Accused of numerous human-rights violations, including “concentration camps” for gay men.

Chechen leader Ramzan Kadyrov is now subject to U.S. sanctions under the Magnitsky Act, Russia’s independent Novaya Gazeta reported Wednesday. Kadyrov, the authoritarian leader of the Russian republic, was added to the list of dozens of sanctioned individuals along with four other Russians. Kadyrov’s long list of human-rights-violation accusations includes Chechnya’s persecution of LGBT individuals. Earlier this year, Novaya Gazeta first reported that Chechen authorities had set up “concentration camps” for gay men. Also sanctioned is Ayub Kataev, a prison warden and head of a branch of the Chechen internal affairs ministry, who has denied reports of the anti-gay camps to the press.