The Bureau of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe has voted to keep Chechen public figure Ruslan Kutayev in the Russian opposition platform at PACE, despite his history of calling LGBTQ+ people “outcasts and perverts” and describing “honor killings” in the Caucasus as a private family matter. The crisis group SK SOS drew attention to the decision.
In late April, PACE had temporarily suspended Kutayev from the platform, leaving the final decision to the assembly’s bureau.
The bureau later adopted a resolution requiring members of the Russian opposition platform to discuss the conduct of their participants and sign a declaration affirming their commitment to diversity and equality. The resolution states that the platform’s current composition will remain unchanged for now.
Human rights activists had called for Kutayev’s removal after he called LGBTQ+ people “outcasts and perverts” and said that “honor killings” in the North Caucasus were an exclusively family matter.
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