Russian Police Won't Find Suspects Who Blinded Gay Man

Russian authorities refuse to look for the suspects who allegedly blinded a gay man in one of his eyes, according to Gay Star News.

At a meeting in November in the offices of LaSky, an HIV service organization located in St. Petersburg, Russia, a group of LGBT youths and their supporters held a "rainbow social." The event was interrupted, however, when two-masked men stormed in and attacked the group with guns and baseball bats.

As a result of the attack, two LGBT activists, Dmitry Chizhevsky and Anna Prutskova, were hospitalized. Chizhevsky had three surgeries but is now blind in his left eye.

Russian police investigated the crime, collecting evidence such as bullets and fingerprints, and were looking to charge the men with a crime of "hooliganism." The investigation, however, is now suspended and a St. Petersburg court refused to label the case a hate crime.

Chizhevsky says authorities are being "indifferent" towards the crime and that they won't look for the masked men.

"I can still see homophobia," he said on social media, according to Gay Star News. "I have another eye for that."

Amnesty International has stepped in, condemning the incident, and officials say that the attackers need to be brought to justice.

"The Russian authorities must seek out, investigate and prosecute all those responsible for these violent attacks," Denis Krivosheev, Europe and Central Asia Deputy Director at Amnesty International told Gay Star News. "This was a serious violent assault that has caused severe injuries and could have resulted in death. Those responsible must face serious consequences to the full extent of the law."