KYRGYZSTAN: POLICE ABUSE, EXTORTION OF GAY MEN
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(Bishkek, January 29, 2014) - Police in Kyrgyzstan have extorted, threatened, arbitrarily detained, beaten and sexually abused gay and bisexual men, Human Rights Watch said in a report released today. Although consensual sex between men was decriminalized in Kyrgyzstan in 1998, police target gay and bisexual men for violence and extortion, Human Rights Watch found.
The 65-page report, They Told Us We Deserved This: Police Violence against Gay and Bisexual Men in Kyrgyzstan, found that gay and bisexual men have been subjected to a range of abuses at the hands of police in Kyrgyzstan, including physical, sexual, and psychological violence; arbitrary detention; and extortion under the threat of violence or of exposing victims’ sexual orientation to friends and family. The report is based on detailed interviews with 40 gay and bisexual men in four regions of Kyrgyzstan.
The 65-page report, They Told Us We Deserved This: Police Violence against Gay and Bisexual Men in Kyrgyzstan, found that gay and bisexual men have been subjected to a range of abuses at the hands of police in Kyrgyzstan, including physical, sexual, and psychological violence; arbitrary detention; and extortion under the threat of violence or of exposing victims’ sexual orientation to friends and family. The report is based on detailed interviews with 40 gay and bisexual men in four regions of Kyrgyzstan.
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