MOSCOW, May 5. /TASS/. Chechnya's authorities are prepared to cooperate with the federal agencies of power in verifying the mass media reports on the persecution of sexual minorities in the region but they have not received any official petitions over the facts of persecution, the regional President, Ramzan Kadyrov said on Friday.
"Chechnya's government and law enforcement agencies are prepared to cooperate closely wityh the Russian President's ombudsman for human rights, Tatiana Moskalkova, as well as with the Prosecutor General's Office, the Interior Ministry and other enforcement organizations in the efforts to verify media reports on the alleged facts of persecution of the persons with unconventional sexual orientation," Kadyrov said.
"A phenomenon of this kind (homosexuality) isn't typical of the Chechen people," he said. "Chechen society doesn't have a feature known as the nonstandard sexual orientation it has lived for thousands of years by different rules, the ones that were bestowed on people by the Almighty, the ones taking root in the norms of morailty and ethics in human relations."
"We have never had them (individuals with nonstandard sexual orientation) among us Chechens unless you deal with someone who isn't really Chechen but ascribes himself to our nationality in order to secure an opportunity to hit the road towards the West," Kadyrov said.
"The ombudsperson for human rights in Chechnya, human rights activists with a huge record of activities, public associations and the heads of law enfrocement agenies asked to report on facts of persecution and use of violence (against members of the LGBT community TASS) if such facts have been registered, but we haven't received a single complaint so far," he said.
Kadyrov turned down the rumors that people were frightened to file any petitions or complaints with the authorities.
"That's absolutely wrong," he said. "No one has been intimidating anyone else because this is simply impossible.".