Architect dies in hospital 17 months after homophobic attack

A gay man has died in hospital 17 months after a barbaric homophobic attack which left him with massive brain injuries.

Architect Mikhail Pischevsky woke from a coma a month after the brutal attack in Minsk, Belraus, but never fully recovered and remained in hospital until his death on Tuesday (October 27). He died after doctors decided to remove about 20% of ’s brain in the hope that this could save him.

Pischevsky was leaving a gay club in the Belorussian capital last year when he was beaten senseless by a stranger the horrific anti-gay assault, which left him with massive head injuries, Gay Press reports.

His attacker, Dmitry Lukashevich, was originally sentenced to two years and eight months in prison for hooliganism and “unintentionally inflicted grievous bodily harm” and was ordered to pay €7,500 to Pischevsky and €3,000 to Pischevsky’s mother.

However, Lukashevich was released on amnesty after just 11 months in jail.

Activists from the Russian-Speaking American LGBT Association held a vigil for Pischevsky yesterday, and called for his attacker to face murder charges in the wake of his death.

“We plead with the international community, with politicians and public figures to ask this question every time they meet any representatives of Belarusian government”, the group said in a statement. “Why wasn’t Mikhail’s killer charged with murder? We demand an answer.”

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