Assassination of transsexual in Portugal - Hiding of a hate-crime

February 2006, Gisberta Salce Júnior, a Brazilian transsexual living in extreme social exclusion in the Portuguese city of Oporto, was tortured and anally raped with sticks over a period of three days and then thrown into a pit and left to die in an abandoned construction site. A group of twelve to fourteen adolescent boys between the age of 12 and 16 admitted to committing this crime. The youths were living in a "minor protection" institution run by the Catholic church.

Gisberta had been in very poor health. She was HIV Positive, and had tuberculosis. She lived on the streets, and engaged in sex work to earn some money. This crime was given misleading coverage in the Portuguese media. The judiciary defined it down and the political establishment ignored it. This mistreatment ranged from trying to dehumanise Gisberta. The press refused to publish her photo, by echoing the church hierarchy's insinuation that she had harassed the boys, by neglecting to mention that she was transsexual and by ignoring the public statements of the LGBT organisations. [...]

source: 'Urgent Appeal for International Action on 8th June! - Assassination of Transsexual in Portugal - Hiding of a Hate-Crime' by European TransGender Network, Steering Committee; May 2006