Turkmen doctor who came out as gay disappeared after police summons

AKIPRESS.COM - A young man who detailed his tormented life being gay in Turkmenistan has vanished along with his family after going to a police station where he had been summoned. 24r-old Kasymberdy Garayev -- whose mother and father and siblings have also disappeared -- worked as a cardiologist at a prestigious clinic in Ashgabat, RFE/RL reports.
Garayev described the massive pressure he was under from both his family and officials in Turkmenistan, where being gay is punishable by up to 2 years in prison.
He said that only members of his family knew about his sexual orientation and even they attempted to convince him to "live a lie" and conceal the truth from everyone.
Their efforts to "help" him included trying to forcibly marry him in arranged marriages, forcing him to seek counseling from psychiatrists and imams, and suggesting he sleep with a prostitute to become a "real" man.
Garayev said that police had ridiculed and beaten him before also administering electric shocks after one detention.
Garayev told RFE/RL that he hoped by telling his story he could help others in Turkmenistan who were in a similar situation.
Turkmen authorities reacted to the publication of Garayev's story by unleashing the security service to scour the health sector in Ashgabat and find the person, who was referred to in reports under the pseudonym "Kamil."
Garayev was among those called in by police. On October 24, he went to a police station after being summoned. It was the last time he was heard from.
RFE/RL's Turkmen Service contacted the clinic where Garayev was working only to be told "this person no longer works here."
Attempts to find Garayev's family also failed after finding out that the family was no longer living in their home in Ashgabat and the neighbors didn't know what happened to them.