Investigators did not find the man who shot Dmitry Chizhevsky in the eye, and the judge did not see any hatred of gays in the attack

Investigators did not find the man who shot Dmitry Chizhevsky in the eye, and the judge did not see any hatred of gays in the attack

Four months have passed since strangers in balaclavas walked into the office of the LaSky organization, which supports gays with AIDS, and shouts of “Stop, ***!” fired several times from an air pistol at the people there. One of the bullets hit 27-year-old Dmitry Chizhevsky in the left eye. Several surgeries failed to restore his vision.

Now Dima wears a black pirate headband, is surprised when people suddenly appear from somewhere on the left, and is sad, remembering how good it was to live with two eyes.

Attack for love

A day after the attack, on November 4, two criminal cases were opened under the articles “Hooliganism” and “Infliction of grievous bodily harm for hooligan motives.” Dmitry and his lawyers insisted on reclassifying the crime from “committed with hooligan motives” to “committed out of hatred against the LGBT social group.” But investigator Olga Novgorodtseva “found no reason for this.”

Based on the logic of the investigation, it turns out that two young people accidentally pulled scarves and masks over their faces, accidentally went into a basement in one of the courtyards on the Fontanka embankment, quite accidentally called those there “***” and simply decided to “behave” by shooting into people.

No hate!

The case became resonant for the city, but not for the investigation. “We hoped that the media noise would have an effect on the investigators. But, as it turned out, my idea of ​​the investigation was based on the Columbo series. In reality, their job is to rearrange and rewrite papers. One investigator and one operative worked with us. I met the latter a couple of times in total. The investigator was completely indifferent to both the case and us,” Dmitry complains.

Dmitry and the lawyers tried to appeal the refusal to reclassify the case in court. But the judge of the Leninsky District Court of St. Petersburg, Nikitin, agreed with the investigation.

The investigation made no progress in finding the shooters, and on March 4, admitting its powerlessness, it suspended the case.

Hide the fact of homophobia

Dmitry is disappointed: “The task force did a disgusting job. In the room where they shot at me, they took two fingerprints, whose it is unclear. We found a few bullets and calmed down. And after examining them, the guys found 6-8 more bullets there. Is this normal work? he asks.

The victim of homophobes does not rule out starting his own investigation, although “time has already been lost.” But there are clues: surveillance video from a nearby hotel, which shows two masked young men - the alleged criminals - running away. According to Dmitry's lawyer, Maria Kozlovskaya, these records were not requested and included in the case. The court decision and investigation will soon be appealed “all the way to the ECHR.”

“The refusal of the investigation to properly qualify the crime indicates an intention to hide the fact of a homophobic attack, the number of which has increased significantly over the past year in St. Petersburg,” say the lawyers of Dmitry Chizhevsky and Anna Prutskova, the second victim in this case.

Anna's complaint will be considered by the court in the near future. However, she is not expecting a miracle: earlier, two complaints from her lawyer about the refusal of investigator Olga Novgorodtseva to take into account the motive of hatred towards LGBT people in this case were already rejected by the prosecutor and the investigation.

"I see the light"

For the rest, Dmitry, as he promised everyone immediately after the attack, did not despair. And unlike the investigation, during these four months he managed to do a lot: he founded the StopHate movement to counter homophobia, got a new job (Dima is a programmer), and found a soul mate. Now he is preparing documents for a visa to the United States, where he was invited to the world conference of LGBT communities.

“It seems to me that I see light if you shine a flashlight into your eye,” says Dmitry. Now his left, wounded eye is filled with silicone from the inside to maintain its shape. In 4 months, Dmitry will have surgery - doctors will replace the silicone with liquid. But my vision cannot be returned.

Anastasia GAVRIELOVA

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