Chile: Four men convicted of six-hour Neo-Nazi killing of gay man
Four men have been convicted for the killing of Daniel Zamudio, a gay Chilean man who died following the Neo-Nazi attack last year.
The hate crime bill had languished in Congress for over seven years, but was finally fast-tracked to approval after the attack. It cleared its final hurdle with a 25-3 vote in the Senate. This prompted supporters to compare Mr Zamudio to murdered Wyoming teen Matthew Shepard.
The convicted men are Patricio Ahumada, Alejandro Angulo, Raúl López and Fabián Mora, who were all between the ages of 19 and 25 years old at the time of the attack.
According to reports, Mora had asked the victim whether he was gay, and he responded “yes”. He had suffered a six-hour ordeal at the hands of his captors, and pictures released by his family showed that he had been beaten in the head, burned with cigarettes, and scarred with Nazi symbols and slogans.
Last April, thousands attended the funeral of Mr Zamudio.
Daniel Zamudio, who was 24, died from his injuries twenty five days after his attack on March 3.
The men arrested previously denied both attacking Mr Zamudio and belonging to a neo-Nazi movement. They are expected to be sentenced next week.
