Elena Gocmen Rueda
Police arrested two men for a hate crime following an attack on a 21-year-old man in the town of Castell del Ferro in Granada, southern Spain on Saturday (July 17).
Jefferson Vera described how he was attacked by two men who insulted him over his sexuality before throwing him against a wall.
“It was only one of them who pushed me, the other just stared at his friend. After that I panicked and had an anxiety attack,” Vera wrote on Twitter.
After the incident, Vera was treated at a local health centre and reported the attack to the Guardia Civil.
The assailants were arrested shortly after and identified as two men aged 18 and 21 with no previous criminal records.
On Wednesday, they were handed a two-year suspended sentence.
The mayor of Castell de Ferro, Antonia Antequera spoke of her disgust and indignation at the homophobic attack in her town.
“We will be vigilant and will continue to raise awareness so that incidents like the one you have suffered do not happen again,” she promised Vera.
The incident is the latest in a recent spate of such agressions that have made headlines in Spain.
Earlier this month Samuel Ruiz Muniz was killed outside a nightclub in A Coruna by a group in a case that sparked outrage and saw large protests across Spain.
According to data collected by the Ministry of the Interior, hate crimes are on the rise with the number of cases reported soaring 45% between 2013 and 2019.
READ MORE
- Samuel Luiz Muñiz: Three men arrested over murder of young gay man in northwestern Spain
- Protests across Spain call for justice for Samuel Luiz Muñiz, murdered for being gay
- Tributes paid to Samuel Luiz Muñiz, 24, beaten to death in Spain over his sexuality
