A Belarusian man who was brutally beaten in May 2014 in what witnesses say was a homophobic hate crime has died in a Minsk hospital.
The family of Mikhail Pishcheuski, 34, told local media that he died in the early morning hours of October 27, having never recovered from the severe injuries he suffered in the attack.
In January, Minsk resident Dzmitry Lukashevich, 30, was convicted and sentenced to two years and eight months in prison for "inflicting grievous bodily harm through negligence."
Prosecutors refused to label the incident a hate crime.
He was released from prison under an amnesty in May.
Pishcheuski suffered a broken skull and bleeding in the brain during the attack. Doctors removed about 20 percent of his brain.
He was never able to move or feed himself and remained hospitalized for the entire time after the attack.