Russian reporters says gay men are being detained and tortured in six prisons in Chechnya, not two as originally reported.

Just days after Chechen leader Ramazan Kadyrov publicaly declared that he wanted all gay people in the country to be eliminated by May 26, the first day of the Muslim celebration of Ramadan, it has been reported that the scale of the anti-gay operation underway there is much bigger than originally thought.

The newspaper has also reported that the prisoners are only released once their families pay large bribes to police.

One escapee, interviewed by CNN last week, said that once he was releasaed to his family, the police told his father he should be killed as a matter of honour.

Last month, Novaya Gazeta reported on 100 men being detained in two specially created prisons. The journalist who broke the story, Elena Milashina, has been forced to flee Russia amid death threats.

The British government last week condemned the imprisonment and torture of gay men in Chechnya. The Irish government has not yet spoken out.

On Monday, at a dinner held by the LGBT organisation, The Centre, Hillary Clinton criticised American president, Donald Trump for his silence on Chechnya

“In recent weeks, we’ve heard terrifying accounts from Chechnya of gay and bisexual men being taken from their homes and families, tortured, and even killed,” she said.

“The United States government – yes, this government – should demand an end to the persecution of innocent people across the world.”

She added: “I think we have to face the fact that we may not ever be able to count on this administration to lead on LGBT issues.”

Yesterday, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said Moscow was concerned about human rights violations but had no reason to believe reports about the persecution of gay men in Chechnya.

Watch Hillary Clinton’s speech below.