Is the Chechen government conducting a gay purge?

Yes. Many reports are coming from the men who have been detained testifying to this. They are understandably anonymous. They detail the torture, beatings and murder that occur in locations that they gay men have been taken to. The reports say that government agents also threaten the gay men's families and try to get them to give them up or entrap them. In Chechnya the entire family can be shamed for having a gay family member, making it hard for siblings to marry. Some gay men have reported how they ran away from the family home after being warned of danger, and how cousins have tried to persuade them to return. They also detail how once taken to the camp, they were tortured to give up the names of other gay men. Angela Merkel has recently mentioned this to President Putin, pleading that this not continue.