Bisexual Chechen woman flees Russia, alleges forced ‘exorcism’

MOSCOW: A bisexual woman who has fled Russia complained of torture and being held and subjected to “exorcism” in Chechnya, a region accused by rights groups of orchestrating campaigns against homosexuality. Aminat Lorsanova lodged a complaint this week with Russia’s investigative committee, demanding a probe against her parents, an exorcist and employees of a psychiatric hospital in the region’s main city Grozny, according to the Russian LGBT Network. A spokeswoman for the NGO, which helped 22-year-old Lorsanova leave the country, told AFP Thursday that there has been no response so far to the complaint. “They can dismiss the complaint saying that it’s nothing, or channel it to the investigative committee in Chechnya, where our chances are non-existent,” she said. In that case, the European Court for Human Rights may be the complainant’s last resort. Lorsanova says in the complaint that she spent two stints of 25 days and four months in different psychiatric clinics in Grozny, the LGBT Network said. Neither clinic could be reached for comment.