Connect with us

Hi, what are you looking for?

World

German LGBT activist severely beaten in Belgrade

-

A German man who participated at a conference on LGBT rights was in intensive care Saturday after he was severely beaten by unknown attackers in Belgrade, a doctor said.

Dusan Jovanovic from Belgrade's Emergency centre said the man, identified only by the initials D.H. by police, was admitted with "life-threatening" injuries.

"He was received with severe head injuries and bleeding, so he has undergone surgery and put in intensive care as his condition is very serious," Jovanovic told AFP.

The 26-year-old woke up later Saturday and communicated, but his condition "remains critical for next 24 hours," Health Minister Zlatibor Loncar told reporters after visiting the man.

Police said they had arrested all three perpetrators of the attack, which happened in downtown Belgrade, but gave no further details.

Earlier, Serbia's Interior Minister Nebojsa Stefanovic said he had ordered an urgent probe into the incident and vowed to find those responsible.

"We will not allow this kind of thing to remain unpunished... and we will arrest the German citizen's attackers," Stefanovic said in a statement.

The NGO Labris, which organised the conference on LGBT (lesbian, gay, bisexual and transsexual) rights, held a protest march along central Belgrade streets.

The incident occurred two weeks ahead of a scheduled gay pride parade, the first since more than 150 people were wounded in clashes between security forces and ultra-nationalists in 2010.

Authorities in deeply patriarchal Serbia have banned gay pride marches ever since, citing security reasons.

A German man who participated at a conference on LGBT rights was in intensive care Saturday after he was severely beaten by unknown attackers in Belgrade, a doctor said.

Dusan Jovanovic from Belgrade’s Emergency centre said the man, identified only by the initials D.H. by police, was admitted with “life-threatening” injuries.

“He was received with severe head injuries and bleeding, so he has undergone surgery and put in intensive care as his condition is very serious,” Jovanovic told AFP.

The 26-year-old woke up later Saturday and communicated, but his condition “remains critical for next 24 hours,” Health Minister Zlatibor Loncar told reporters after visiting the man.

Police said they had arrested all three perpetrators of the attack, which happened in downtown Belgrade, but gave no further details.

Earlier, Serbia’s Interior Minister Nebojsa Stefanovic said he had ordered an urgent probe into the incident and vowed to find those responsible.

“We will not allow this kind of thing to remain unpunished… and we will arrest the German citizen’s attackers,” Stefanovic said in a statement.

The NGO Labris, which organised the conference on LGBT (lesbian, gay, bisexual and transsexual) rights, held a protest march along central Belgrade streets.

The incident occurred two weeks ahead of a scheduled gay pride parade, the first since more than 150 people were wounded in clashes between security forces and ultra-nationalists in 2010.

Authorities in deeply patriarchal Serbia have banned gay pride marches ever since, citing security reasons.

AFP
Written By

With 2,400 staff representing 100 different nationalities, AFP covers the world as a leading global news agency. AFP provides fast, comprehensive and verified coverage of the issues affecting our daily lives.

You may also like:

Business

For SMBs, the move to cloud accounting is part of a larger shift in how businesses are retooling their operations

Tech & Science

The best way to stay safe while gaming is to treat your online security like you would in real life.

Business

South Korean ministries and police said Thursday they were blocking DeepSeek's access to work computers.

Business

America First means isolationism. Cute, except isolationism has destroyed every country that’s ever tried it.