Hate attack victim dies

The young gay man who was brutally beaten and had swastikas carved into his body by a suspected group of neo-Nazis in Chile has died.

Daniel Zamudio, 24, passed away in hospital 25 days after the attack, which has provoked a national debate on hate crime laws.

Prosecutors in Chile have asked for murder charges for his four suspected attackers, who have a history of anti-gay violence.

Chile’s Gay Liberation and Integration Movement called for the men to be additionally charged with torture.

Chilean President Sebastian Pinera said his government won’t rest until a proposed anti-discrimination law is passed.

Zamudio was attacked in a park in Santiago last month, where he was beaten, burned with cigarettes and had Nazi symbols carved into his body.

“He was very loving, an excellent person and that’s why it’s so hard to believe that they attacked him with such hate,” his brother Diego told reporters.

Hundreds of people had been holding vigil outside the hospital where Zamudio had been on life support. A shrine was erected on the sidewalk.

The suspects are in preventive detention after blaming each other for the attack.

One of the accused allegedly told police that he saw two of the other suspects carve three swastikas into Zamudio with a broken bottle, the Associated Press reports.