A court in Yerevan on Tuesday rejected Russias request to extradite a man who fled therepublic of Chechnya after being tortured because he was suspected of being gay, anLGBTQ+ 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 cooperation with the authorities by luring gay men online into meeting him and then reporting them to the police.Mukaev fled to Armenia following his release from detention but has been unable to leave the country after Russian authorities opened a criminal case against him and issued a warrant for his arrest.An Armenian court denied Russias request to extradite him, ruling that LGBTQ+ peopleare not safe in Chechnya, and in Russia, their rights may be violated due to homophobic laws, according to SK SOS.Likewise, the Armenian court made note of Russias Supreme Court ruling that designated the so-called international LGBT public movement as a banned extremist organization.These official processes are de facto an incentive for society to legalize violence and other forms of persecution of members of the LGBT community, SK SOS cited the court ruling as saying.According to SK SOS, the court also granted Mukaev asylum and refugee status in Armenia.