Crime

Swaziland confirms young black student suffered anti-gay and racist ‘trauma’ by Russian gang

Nov 14 2013
Written by Rudy Katoch

A young male student has returned to Swaziland having been allegedly tortured in a homophobic and racist fashion by a neo-Nazi Russian gang.

Mr Percy Simelane, a spokesman from the Swaziland Government, confirmed the victim arrived back in the African country last week. He had allegedly been tortured and abused by the gang whilst studying at Shukhov State Technological University in Belogrod, Russia. His name has been changed to protect his identity.

“While government was gathering information, Gadlela [not his real name], came home. Due to the trauma he suffered, he went to his family and neglected contacting government on his arrival,” said Mr Simelane

Swaziland officials have now met with the student’s family and say he is fine, but would not be returning to Shukhov State Technological University for the rest of his studies.

The student was incorrectly identified as a South African national by several media outlets when the reports first surfaced earlier this month.

However, the Times of Swaziland reports the South Africa’s Department of International Relations and Cooperation (DIRCO) revealed that Gadlela was indeed a Swazi.

Earlier this month, a video was published on the Russian social media website VK.com by the Belgorod contingent of Occupy-Pedofilyay – a homophobic and racist movement – appearing to show Gadlela suffering from homophobic and racist abuse at the hands of the gang.

The video is edited to last 33 minutes, but it seems to have taken place over several hours.

It shows the boy being asked to have sex with a cat and having a line shaved down his head. He’s then forced to paint it green.

He is also made to kiss a watermelon, which is smashed in his face. The gang then made the student simulate oral sex on a beer bottle and he was pressured into saying racial epithets in Russian.

The Russian LGBT Network said the anti-gay “propaganda” laws passed in June has validated right-wing groups who use social media to “ambush” gay people, by luring them into meetings and then assaulting them on camera.

In October, the Sova Center, a Russian group that tracks nationalism and xenophobia, reported that 20 people were injured in racist and neo-Nazi attacks, two of them fatally. Since the beginning of 2013, racist violence has killed 18 people in Russia and injured 141.