News: Over 100 LGBTQI Arrested and Tortured in Azerbaijan

Photo Credits: Ghvinotsdaati (Own work) / [CC BY 3.0], via Wikimedia Commons

Baku, Azerbaijan—Local reports on the arrest and torture suffered by least a hundred Azerbaijan gay and transgender people in the hands of the police had surfaced these past few days. And their alleged crime?

Prostitution.

A spokesperson from Azerbaijan’s Ministry of Internal Affairs who referred to Azerbaijan LGBTQI as “people of non-traditional sexual orientation” said that those arrested were “gathered in the center of Baku to engage in prostitution.” He explained that the police have repeatedly received appeals “to stop these illegal actions” and that as a result of those complaints from the citizens, the police are simply taking measures to “protect national moral values.”

But the detainees, according to a Sweden-based human rights group called Civil Rights Defenders, said otherwise. The victims suffered humiliation, verbal abuse, beatings, forced medical examination in addition to having their heads shaved (in the case of transgender people) while others were sentenced to 20 to 30 days of detention. Many were only let go after they gave up the addresses of fellow LGBTQI friends and this is where the vicious cycle begins because now it’s these friends’ turn to get arrested and to suffer similar treatment.

Indeed, the current situation of Azerbaijan LGBTQI is quite reminiscent of the plight of the Chechen LGBT. Find out more on this story by watching the video below.

A 2016 study conducted by ILGA-Europe Rainbow finds Azerbaijan “the worst place to be gay in Europe,” The Guardian reports. It is said that Armenia and Russia make up the bottom three with Azerbaijan. A total of 49 countries have been ranked in accordance with the “laws, policies and practices that affect LGBTI communities.” Read more on the criteria here and read the full report here.

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