Last winter, the investigative journalist Jelena Milasjina got a tip that simply seemed to be incredible to be true.
The tipped story was about the authorities of the Russian Republic of Chechnya had started hunting for gay men (as MySoCalledGayLife.co.uk has reported about several times).
Jelena eventually got the story confirmed from several sources. Hundreds of men had been put into concentration camps, where they were mistreated and tortured in the coarsest.
Milasjina believes today that her articles have helped to save tens of thousands of gay men in Chechnya. Many have fled from the Republic and are now living in hiding elsewhere in Russia, Norwegian TV2 reports tonight.
But the disclosure has had a high price for her personally.
The brutal ruler of Chechnya has declared sacred war against the newspaper where she is working. And herself is now threatened on her life – through the Republic’s state television channels.
It’s going on constantly. They threaten me via the state media, and with government money, says Milasjina to TV2 Norway’s reporter.
It’s easy for them to find out where I am, admits the journalist. At the moment, I have to live abroad, but it does not really feel like it has any purpose.
