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US-Russia summit: Rights protest shines light on Chechnya
HELSINKI, July 16, 2018 (BSS/AFP) – Gay rights activists welcomed US
President Donald Trump to his summit with Russia’s Vladimir Putin by
emblazoning their message across the walls of Finland’s presidential palace.
The US-based Human Rights Campaign used the Helsinki venue to draw
attention to the plight of sexual minorities in Chechnya, the autonomous
Russian republic run by Putin’s autocratic ally Ramzan Kadyrov.
Reporters and officials gathered in Helsinki for Monday’s summit saw the
slogans above the harbour-front venue.
One of the slogan read: ‘Trump and Putin: Stop the Crimes Against Humanity
in Chechnya.’
Activists say lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people face
discrimination in Russia, particularly in Muslim-majority Chechnya, where
Kadyrov’s government is accused of jailing and torturing gay men.
The Human Rights Campaign also criticizes Trump’s US administration for
allegedly having failed to speak out on LGBT rights in Russia while trying to
set up the summit and mend frayed ties with the Kremlin.
“Trump has unconscionably turned a blind eye to some of the worst anti-
LGBTQ atrocities in a generation, including monstrous attacks on gay and
bisexual men in Chechnya,” said Ty Cobb, Director of HRC Global.
“HRC is here in Helsinki to demand Donald Trump end his deafening silence,
publicly condemn these Chechen crimes against humanity, and call on Putin to
investigate and bring the perpetrators to justice.”
Trump and Putin were to meet one-on-one later Monday before giving a joint
news conference to conclude the one-day summit. BSS/AFP/MR/ 1253 hrs