A minor boy from Hoogeveen has been given eighty hours of community service and two years of suspended juvenile detention for aggravated assault against a gay asylum seeker on January 1. The Hoogevener must also pay compensation of 4,011 euros to the Russian victim.
On New Year’s Eve, the perpetrator and his group of friends first started cursing the Russian, who was living in the azc in Hoogeveen at the time, and throwing fireworks at him. The perpetrator from Hoogeveen, 16 years old at the time of the incident, went even further and threw a stone at the asylum seeker’s head.
A video recording of one of the perpetrator’s friends shows that the victim lies defenseless and motionless on the ground, in his own blood. The stone caused a three-inch wound on the back of the Russian’s head. Local residents alerted the police after the group of friends had left the place.
The perpetrator was still in a trial period during New Year’s Eve due to an earlier incident. It also turned out that the boy was drunk while throwing the stone. The juvenile judge in Assen therefore called it a ‘typical Hoogeveen situation of bored youngsters and alcohol’.
The judge also ruled that there was anti-gay violence. “You have thrown a stone at close range. Only because of its appearance and gender.” Moreover, the group of friends left the victim behind on the street without looking back.
In the closing argument, the Russian victim said that he had fled the country because he did not receive protection from the authorities as a homosexual. “But nevertheless I came across a case that I had not encountered even in Russia, with all the anti-human laws, bans, threats and the lack of education in society.”
After the offense, the victim suffers from PTSD, something that the underage perpetrator initially seemed to do little in court. The perpetrator eventually apologized in court. The court of Assen reported that no appeal has been lodged by the perpetrator, making the verdict irrevocable.
Sandro Kortekaas of the interest group LGBT Asylum Support is very happy with the conviction. “Incidents in which homophobia plays a role rarely make it to court. The fact that this also leads to a conviction in this case is very special.”