By Sean Gannon
A rally against the reported persecution of homosexuals in Chechnya is taking place in Bradford city centre tonight.
The event, which is being co-hosted by Labour Councillor Richard Dunbar as a show of solidarity and unity, has been organised in response to alleged attempts by the Chechen government to exterminate the country’s gay community.
Russian journalists and human rights activists say over 100 men have been detained in concentration camps by the Chechen police under the suspicion of being homosexual.
There have even been claims that at least three have been murdered and others have been killed by their families in ‘honour killings’.
A spokesperson for Chechnya’s leader Ramzan Kadyrov, has denied the matter and stated: “You cannot detain and persecute people who simply do not exist in the republic”.
He proceeded to claim: “If there were such people in Chechnya, the law-enforcement organs wouldn’t need to have anything to do with them because their relatives would send them somewhere from which there is no returning.”
The rally will take place in Centenary Square at 6pm this evening.