Assailant to spend one more year in jail after death of beating victim
Mikhail Piščeuski was severely beaten when leaving a night club in Minsk, which hosted a gay party on May 25, 2014. Doctors diagnosed Mikhail Piščeuski with a fractured skull and bleeding in the brain, about 20% of the brain had to be removed. For about a month, the victim was in a coma.
On October 16, 2015, the Tsentralny District Court of Minsk found Dzmitry Lukaševič guilty under Part 1 of Article 339 and Article 155 of the Criminal Code of Belarus (malicious hooliganism and inflicting grave bodily harm). He was sentenced to imprisonment for 2 years and 8 months in a penal colony, and ordered to pay moral damages, which was estimated at 100 million rubles. Dzmitry Lukaševič served almost a year and was released in August 2015 under amnesty.
On October 27, 2015, Mikhail Piščeuski died at the age of 35. The prosecutor’s office reopened the case at the end of 2015.
In court, Dzmitry Lukaševič pleaded guilty of hooliganism, saying he did not intend to kill, bud denied having done this because of hate for gay orientation of the victim; he asked the relatives for pardon.
Dzmitry Lukaševič is expected to spend one more year in prison, as he has already served one year, and another one is reduced by amnesty, reports the Radio Svaboda. He also has to pay moral damage compensation of 20 000 BYN.
