Participants of the Belgrade Queer Festival attacked
23 September 2008 -
Four participants of the Belgrade Queer Festival have been brutalized by a group of ten unknown perpetrators. The attacked happened on Friday September 19 in the central part of the capital of Serbia. Two of the victims were foreigners. Queer Belgrade Collective, of which Hivos-partner Labrys in Kyrgyzstan is a member, condemns the homophobic attack.
A group of ten perpetrators brutally attacked and hurt four participants of the Belgrade Queer Festival. Two of the victims were foreigners; one from Russia and another from the United States. The injured people have been taken care of at the Emergency Medical Center. Thanks to the quick response of the police, who guarded the event, two perpetrators have been taken into police custody soon after the attack.
Queer Belgrade Collective condemns the attack and sees it as a violation of the right to physical and psychological integrity, right to sexual orientation, right to freedom of movement and freedom of peaceful assembly.
Queer Belgrade Collective requests:
1. from the state authorities to locate and arrest all the perpetrators, to bring criminal charges against the perpetrators, as well as to punish the perpetrators properly, in a timely manner.
2. from the state authorities to amend the current Serbian Criminal Code and introduce the hate-crime provision, as soon as possible.
Queer Belgrade Collective will inform the international institutions and human rights organizations about the incident.
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