The key moments and most disappointing stories of 2017

As 2017 draws to a close, PinkNews looks back at some of the most disappointing, and significant moments for LGBT people in the past 12 months.

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1. Chechnya opens concentration camps for gay and bi men

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In February media reports out of Chechnya found that gay and bisexual men had been rounded up and that concentration camp-style prisons were set up to house them as they were tortured and killed.

Novaya Gazeta, a newspaper based in the region, has on a number of occasions published the list of names it says President Ramzan Kadyrov’s government killed.

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The President has denied that gay and bisexual people even exist in Chechnya, and has refused to bow to pressure from the international community around the purge.

Countries like Canada offered asylum to gay and bisexual men able to flee the country to freedom.

But it is likely that the camps are still in operation and that gay and bisexual men are still being detained and tortured. It has also become increasingly clear that dozens of gay and bi men have been killed amidst the ‘purge’.

2. Trans woman pleads for her life before being beaten to death

In one of the most shocking and harrowing stories published by PinkNews this year, a transgender woman was filmed pleading for her life just minutes before being beaten to death.

Dandara dos Santos, 42, was taken from her home, beaten, stripped and thrown in a wheelbarrow before being taken away to be killed.