Statement on the Murder of Aishat Baymuradova
We, Russian human rights defenders and organizations, express our deep outrage and sorrow over the brutal murder of…
Read more
North Caucasus · Crisis Group
Helping those
who fight for
life and freedom
We help LGBTIQ+ people and their families who are facing mortal danger in the North Caucasus.
What we've achieved
- people helped
- 833
- people helped to leave the region
- 390
- people helped to obtain asylum
- 359
These figures cover LGBTIQ+ applicants only. They do not include family members, or people who were put in danger because they were suspected of being LGBTIQ+.
What we do
NC SOS Crisis Group
A team of human rights defenders. Since 2017 we have been helping LGBTIQ+ people and their families survive danger, violence and persecution in the North Caucasus.
News and articles
Feed
“Let’s Just Settle This Quietly.” The Story of Zaur, Who Was Forced to Inform on Gay Men in North Ossetia — But Refused
Zaur is almost 30, openly gay, and has lived his whole life in Vladikavkaz, the capital of North…
Read more
“She Knew They Would Start Looking for Her.” A Friend of a Missing Chechen Seda Suleimanova on Friendship, ‘Honor Killings’, and Runaway Women from the North Caucasus
In August, a year had passed since Seda Suleimanova’s disappearance—a Chechen young woman who fled from her family…
Read more
Father from ISIS, jinn exorcism, and escape from Russia. The story of Sara Bibulatova
Sara Bibulatova was born in Baku, the Azerbaijani capital, but her passport indicates Grozny as her birthplace. The…
Read more
A 26-year-old Chechen woman might have become a victim of an ‘honour killing’
Seda Suleymanova, a 26-year-old native of Chechnya, may have been killed by her family, as reported to the…
Read more
A Chechen gay man escapes Russia after being detained and missing for three months
Rizvan Dadaev from Grozny, the capital of Chechnya, was detained by the police in July of 2022 due…
Read more
From Taxi Drivers to Mercenaries: How Chechen Authorities Conscript Citizens for Ukraine’s War
The war in Ukraine has a unique impact on the closest region in Russia. Chechnya, a republic in…
Read more
Inhuman operations still being carried out in Russia: what do we know about so-called «female circumcision»?
In Russia, the problem of violence against women is much more serious than in many European countries: every…
Read more
Dutch foreign minister speaks out on Arsamikov’s arrest
Dutch Foreign Minister Wopke Hoekstra commented on the arrest of Idris Arsamikov on Twitter. «I am deeply worried…
Read morePeople's stories
Wards
Every story is a real person we help.
Tina
Tina is a young Chechen woman who was subjected to severe domestic violence from early childhood by her mother, father, brothers, and…
Aliya Ozdamirova
Aliya, a 33-year-old Chechen woman, had been in contact with the NC SOS Crisis Group since 2023. She periodically lost contact and…
Aishat Baymuradova
Aishat was born and raised in Chechnya. From early childhood, she was raised by her father, who separated her from her mother…
August Dobrovolsky
August is a young man who grew up in Nizhnevartovsk (a city in Western Siberia, Russia) in a Chechen family with strongly…
Maxim Lapunov
Maxim was the first person to speak openly about the anti-gay purge in Chechnya. It was through Maxim’s testimony that the world…
Seda Suleimanova
Seda was facing the prospect of a forced marriage, just like her sisters. Refusing to accept this imposed fate led to conflict…
Rizvan Dadaev
Rizvan, a resident of Chechnya, first encountered police discrimination due to his sexual identity in the spring of 2017. This was when…
Vika
Vika (name changed for security reasons) lived in the village of Kirovaul in Dagestan, a republic in Russia located in the North…
Sara Bibulatova
Sara was born in Baku, the capital of Azerbaijan, but her passport lists Grozny, the capital of Chechnya, as her place of…
Marina Yandieva
Marina Yandieva, from Ingushetia—a republic in the North Caucasus region of Russia—attempted to escape from her home twice. In 2011, she began…
Eva Yusupova
At the end of 2022, Eva (name changed for safety reasons), a Chechen woman, faced severe backlash after her 14-year-old daughter, Alina,…
Idris Arsamikov
Idris was detained in Chechnya in 2017 on suspicion of being gay. The police tortured him to force a confession. He was…
Four sisters
Hadijat Hizrieva, Patimat Hizrieva, Aminat Gazimagomedova and Patimat Magomedova from Dagestan were regularly abused — physically and psychologically by their relatives. As…
Salekh and Ismail
Siblings Salekh Magamadov and Ismail Isaev were detained in 2020 and held for three months at the Second Regiment of Akhmat-Haji Kadyrov,…
Magomed Askhabov
Magomed faced sexual violence, blackmail, and extortion in Dagestan, one of the republics in the Russian North Caucasus, due to his queer…
Elina Ukhmanova
Elina was forcibly confined in a rehabilitation center in Dagestan, a republic in the North Caucasus region of Russia, which her parents…
Salman Mukaev
In 2020, Salman was detained by Chechen security forces on false suspicions of homosexuality. While in custody, he endured brutal torture: he…
Aminat Lorsanova
Aminat's Chechen family attempted to "cure" her of bisexuality and atheism through "exorcisms of jinn" and even subjected her to electric shock…
Ibragim Selimkhanov
Ibragim fled Chechnya to escape his family, who had threatened to kill him because of his homosexuality. In the spring of 2021,…
Amin Dzhabrailov
Amin Dzhabrailov, a resident of Grozny, became the first ethnic Chechen to publicly speak out about the torture and persecution of gay…