Four men in Chile have been found
guilty in the brutal murder of Daniel Zamudio.
Zamudio, 24, died from injuries he
received during an attack in a park in Santiago on March 3, 2012.
Authorities said that the 4 men beat Zamudio, burned him with
cigarettes and carved Nazi symbols into his body. The attack lasted
more than an hour. Officials said Zamudio was targeted because he
was gay.
The four men – Patricio Ahumada
Garay, Alejandro Angulo Tapia, Raul Lopez Fuentes and Fabian Mora
Mora – were chided by Judge Carlos Urrutia, who said that they were
guilty of a crime of “extreme cruelty” and “total disrespect
for human life,” according
to the AP.
Zamudio's murder provoked outrage in
Chile and calls for the government to approve a languishing hate
crimes law. The bill faced heavy opposition from evangelical
churches whose leaders argued that passage of the measure would lead
to the eventual legalization of gay marriage. Four months after
Zamudio's death, President Sebastian Pinera signed the groundbreaking
anti-discrimination law. Discrimination made illegal by the law is
defined as “any distinction, exclusion or restriction that lacks
reasonable justification, committed by agents of the state or
individuals, and that causes the deprivation, disturbance or
threatens the legitimate exercise of fundamental rights.”
The men are expected to be sentenced on
October 28.