Europe

Activists protesting torture of gay men in Chechnya detained

Associated Press
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In this photo provided by Nikita Safronov, Russian activist and journalist Nikita Safronov, left, and his friends make a selfie inside a police van, after being detained in Moscow, Russia, Thursday, May 11, 2017. Several activists who were planning to submit signatures they have collected to protest arbitrary detentions and torture of gay men in Chechnya have been detained in Moscow. (Nikita Safronov photo via AP) (The Associated Press)

Russian police officers detain activists carrying boxes with signatures collected to protest the treatment of gay people in Chechnya, to the Prosecutor General's Office in Moscow, Russia, Thursday, May 11, 2017. Several activists were detained in Moscow on Thursday as they prepared to submit signatures they have collected to protest arbitrary detentions and torture of gay men in Chechnya. (Arden Arkman/Hanout Photo via AP) (The Associated Press)

A Russian police officer looks at activists holding boxes with signatures collected to protest the treatment of gay people in Chechnya, in Moscow, Russia, Thursday, May 11, 2017. Several activists were detained in Moscow on Thursday as they prepared to submit signatures they have collected to protest arbitrary detentions and torture of gay men in Chechnya. In the back is a monument to Russian poet Vladimir Mayakovsky. (Arden Arkman/Hanout Photo via AP) (The Associated Press)

Several activists have been detained in Moscow as they prepared to submit signatures they have collected to protest arbitrary detentions and torture of gay men in Chechnya.

LGBT activist Igor Yasin said five people were detained Thursday morning outside the Prosecutor General's Office as they brought about 2 million signatures collected to protest the treatment of gay people in Chechnya in Russia's south.

The abuse was first reported in April by the independent newspaper Novaya Gazeta, which said about 100 suspected gay men were rounded up and tortured, and at least three were killed. The Associated Press separately interviewed two Chechen men who spoke of torture and corroborated the reports.