Tina
Tina is a young Chechen woman who was subjected to severe domestic violence from early childhood by her mother, father, brothers, and…
People’s stories
Wards
People we have already helped.
We only tell stories that have become public. Most of our wards remain anonymous for security reasons.
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…