One of the victims of the mass persecution of gays in Chechnya was the fighter of Rosgvardia, writes Novaya Gazeta referring to unnamed sources. The publication became aware that he and two other men were killed because of suspicion of homosexual orientation.

The newspaper also reports the murder of a resident of Izhevsk, an ethnic Russian who was first placed in a secret gay prison in Chechnya, and then released and killed outside the republic.

According to Novaya, in the near future a decision will be made to refuse to open a criminal case on the facts of persecution of gays, but then it will be canceled and the verification will continue. As part of the pre-investigation check, they study not only information about detentions, torture and murders, but also public threats against journalists of Novaya Gazeta.

Now, as the newspaper reports, in Chechnya, pressure has been exerted on relatives of gays who fled the republic.

Police officers force them to write statements that the sons or brothers left "to work in Moscow at the end of February," and they have no complaints about the actions of the authorities. Novaya Gazeta has an audio recording of one of these demands by the police.

In addition, the Russian LGBT Network began receiving calls from gay men who were released from secret prisons in early May - after the start of the pre-investigation investigation. The newspaper also has information about the cooperation of some Chechen policemen with the investigation: they handed over to the special services lists of detainees.