I survived Chechnya's 'gay purge'
Amin Dzhabrailov was kidnapped from work and tortured for two weeks as part of an unprecedented gay crackdown in the Russian republic.
In March 2017 Amin Dzhabrailov was dragged out of the hair salon where he worked and bundled into the boot of a car. It was the start of an unprecedented crackdown targeting LGBT people in the Russian republic of Chechnya. Amin says he was taken to a warehouse and tortured alongside other gay men before being outed to his family, who were encouraged to kill him. After his release he knew his life in Chechnya was over and he had to escape - what he couldn't have guessed was where his next steps would take him. Two years later he would go public with his story, defying Chechnya's feared leader and becoming the first Chechen victim of the crackdown to do so. Warning: This programme contains descriptions of torture.
Producer: Kevin Ponniah
Presenter: Emily Webb
Picture credit: Amin Dzhabrailov
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The Outlook Podcast Archive
True stories of ordinary people and the extraordinary events that have shaped their lives