Gay Man Ruthlessly Beaten Into Vegetative State Dies After 17-Month Battle For Life
A vigil and demonstration took place in New York City today to express outrage over the death of a 33-year-old Belarus man who was brutally beaten in Minsk last year simply for being gay.
Gay Star News reports Mikhail Pischevsky, who spent weeks in a coma after the May 2014 attack, died Tuesday after doctors were forced to remove 20 percent of his brain in an attempt to save him.
Pischevsky suffered a number of devastating head injuries during the attack, which took place outside a Minsk nightclub.
At the time, Gay Press reported the attack began when a female left the club complaining that nobody inside "liked her" because they were all gay. Her disappointment caused a number of men nearby to become aggressive with Mikhail and his friends who were gathered near the club entrance for a smoke:
They waited for the first party-goers to leave the clubhouse and started shouting at them: “Look at the fagots coming!” It was Mikhail and two of his friends, who were leaving the club building at that moment. Having heard the offenses, Mikhail retorted: “Who is the fagot over here?”
It was the end of the argument, since [the assailant] attacked him and started beating him black and blue.
Mikhail didn’t manage to defend himself from the strokes and fell on his right side. One of his friends hurried to help him. The other friend tried to appease the attacker, but he got hit in the face, too.
Mikhail was found by paramedics in critical condition and never recovered from a permanent vegetative state.
His attacker was quickly identified as Dmitry Lukashevich, a man with zero remorse who even had the gall to call Mikhail's friends "faggots" in the courtroom after he was sentenced to two years and eight months in prison.
Lukashevich was released after serving an 11-month sentence.
An impassioned post on the Facebook event page organizing a vigil and protest for Mikhail sums up the outrage felt by his supporters:
The name of the attacker who committed this violent hate crime is Dmitry Lukashevich. Lukashevich, former sports instructor, was sentenced to 2 years and 8 months in prison. On August 20, 2015, Lukashevich was released on amnesty after serving only 11 months of prison term.
Mikhail’s killer was not charged with battery or assault. He was charged with hooliganism and negligence despite severe bodily injuries that he caused, despite numerous testimonies of witnesses about the attack, despite the fact that the attacker used homophobic slurs during the crime and during the trial. Mikhail had suffered for 17 months and died. His killer was set free after 11 months. The court estimated moral damages in the amount equivalent to $8,600.
We demand justice for Mikhail Pischevsky.
Why Mikhail’s killer has not been charged with murder? We demand the answer.
Organizers encouraged people to bring flowers, signs, and photographs to the vigil and protest, some of which were posted online:
