Hromadske: Страх унижения принудительное лечение жизнь геев TJ

The article, published by Hromadske on 11 May 2018, is a reported feature on the situation of gay men in Tajikistan under the headline “Fear, humiliation and forced treatment: the life of gays in Tajikistan — one of the hardest in the world”. The article is set in Dushanbe and in Tajik regions and uses pseudonyms for its gay respondents: Dilovar (Диловар), Aziz (Азиз), Shahboz (Шахбоз) and Bahodur (Баходур), and an activist named Sayera (Сайера). The article reports their accounts that internet access in Tajikistan is limited, that communication between gay men occurs on dating sites and is conducted with suspicion, and that many hide their orientation from families and enter early marriages, particularly in religious families. The article reports claims of police mistreatment: respondents say the militsiya treat gay people “either negatively or negatively”, that they manipulate, blackmail and extort money from detainees, threatening to disclose orientation, and the article reports respondent claims of beatings in police departments and cases ending in suicide. The article reports that in June 2014, on the order of Interior Minister Ramazon Rahimzoda (Рамазон Рахимзода), police conducted a series of night raids ostensibly against prostitution, pimping and brothels, during which human-rights defenders say LGBT people not connected to sex work were also detained. The article reports that in the same year the head of the Islamic Centre of Tajikistan, Saidmukarram Abdulkodirzoda (Саидмукаррам Абдулкодирзода), publicly condemned homosexuality at a Friday sermon, calling it a “calamity” and a “misfortune”. The article reports disagreement among activists about whether a police list of LGBT persons exists: some respondents say they were added to a list after detention, while activist Bahodur and others question whether any systematic raid or list exists. The article reports specific incidents including the detention of a “man in women’s clothing” and detentions of LGBT people in an establishment. Photographs are credited to Daniil Usmanov for Kloop.kg. Sources cited: named (pseudonymised) gay respondents and activists, human-rights defenders, a Prosecutor General’s journal paragraph on a 2015 raid targeting sex workers.