A court in Yerevan, Armenia, on Jan. 30 rejected Russia’s request to extradite a man who fled the republic of Chechnya after being tortured because he was suspected of being gay, an LGBTQ+ rights group said. Salman Mukaev was detained by security services in his native Chechnya in 2020, after which he was subject to interrogation and torture, according to SK SOS, which helps LGBTQ+ people in Russia’s North Caucasus. Under torture, he was forced to admit to having a romantic relationship with his male friend and agreed to “cooperate” with the authorities by luring gay men online into meeting him and then reporting them to the police.