Activist describes new 'gay purge' underway in Russia's Chechnya A Russian LGBT rights group is reporting a new wave of persecution against gay people in Chechnya, in which it says around 40 people have been arrested and two killed. Igor Kochetkov of the LGBT Network says people are tortured and abused by police, who then confiscate documents to ensure those arrested in the crackdown cannot flee the republic, as others have done previously. IMAGES AND SOUNDBITES