Chilean President Sebastián Piñera signed an anti-discrimination bill yesterday after months of pressure from the public following the vicious killing of a young gay man.

Chile is one of the last Latin American countries to sign the hate-crime bill, which will impose harsher sentences and larger fines.

The law was approved in May after being stuck in Congress for seven years. Piñera urged lawmakers to speed its approval, after the slaying of Daniel Zamudio in March.

Zamudio was found beaten and mutilated in a Santiago park. His attackers, reportedly a group of alleged neo-Nazis, beat him for an hour, burned him with cigarettes and carved swastikas into his skin.

He died of his injuries bedridden in a public hospital 20 days later. Four suspects were taken into custody and prosecutors are seeking murder charges.

After his death The UN human rights office urged Chile to pass legislation against hate crimes and discrimination.

However, Chile remains deeply rooted in religion and continues to be heavily influenced by the Roman Catholic Church who opposed the bill because they consider homosexuality a sin.

Chile is one of the most socially conservative countries in Latin America, only just legalizing divorce in 2004.

The law met resistance from not only Roman Catholic but also Protestant churches who claim it could be a step towards gay marriage, which Chile forbids.

Gay and human rights activists on the other hand hail the measure as a step towards equality.

“Zamudio died at the hands of hate, ignorance, and prejudice,” said Piñera in a press conference yesterday, “Together we need to construct a society more tolerant, more inclusive, and with more respect between it’s people.”

Following the brutal Neo-Nazi attack of a young gay man, Daniel Zamudio in March this year, yesterday the Chilean Congress approved an anti-discrimination law.

Nationally and internationally, social organisations have been campaigning for an anti-discrimination law to be passed in Chile for seven years, heightened after the assault. The law was fast tracked by President Sebastian Pinera following the 24-year old’s death.

After seven years of opposition from Chile’s political right, the law was passed in the Senate with a 25-3 vote. Previously, the bill had been passed in the Chilean Chamber of Deputies, with 90 votes in favour and 16 against.

The new law states that it is a criminal offence to discriminate against race, ethnicity, nationality, political opinion, religious beliefs sexual orientation, gender, illness, handicap and appearance, among other motives.

The move has been criticised by certain churches, but has elsewhere been viewed as cultural leap for Chile where discrimination is prevalent.

Chilean courts are now investigating Zamudio’s death, though the four attackers have denied his murder as well as their Neo-Nazi involvement. Zamudio died after he was tortured by four attackers who branded his body with the Nazi symbol.

The Chamber of Deputies will meet today to review the draft of the anti-discriminatory bill, which has been criticised by social organisations as incomplete and exclusionary.

The anti-discriminatory bill entered parliament in 2005 and has since been stalled in the Senate. The House finally approved the bill in November last year but with significant modifications.

The government and parliamentarians of the ruling coalition have both endorsed the Senate’s amendments.

Pressure has mounted for legislative reforms in the wake of the death of Daniel Zamudio, 24, last week. Zamudio was savagely attacked on the grounds of his sexual orientation by an alleged group of neo-Nazis.

The draft bill now includes penalties for those who discriminate on the grounds of sexual orientation.

The Gay Liberation Movement (MOVILH) stated that while urgent legislation is needed to prevent discriminatory acts in Chile, refining its content remains a priority.

“Our efforts will concentrate not only on accelerating the proceedings, but especially on the improvements of the bill, so that it meets the proposals that gave rise to the 2005 text.”

The president of the group, Roland Jiménez, called the current legislation a “legal mess.”

MOVILH and other social organisations have emphasised that it is the responsibility of the state to develop public policies that guarantee the rights and freedoms of individuals. They added that the legislation in question should address prevention and not just criminalisation.