Ricky Martin dedicates prize to victim of homophobic violence

San Juan: Puerto Rican singer Ricky Martin dedicated a prize he received from the Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation to a Chilean gay man who is in critical condition after being brutally attacked by a group of neo-Nazis.

"Last night I won a @glaad award! I am honored and thankful and would like to dedicate it to #DanielZamudio and his family #Chile," Martin said Monday on Twitter. The artist was one of the first well-known personalities to publicly repudiate the brutal March 3 attack on Zamudio as a result of his sexual orientation. Zamudio, 24, is in critical condition after being tortured for six hours by several men who threw stones at him, beat him on the head, marked his body with swastikas and ripped off a piece of one of his ears. Since he made his sexual orientation public in 2010, Martin has been active in all types of causes related to the gay movement worldwide. Less than a month ago, he became the image of the MAC Viva Glam campaign to collect funds for the fight against AIDS, and recently, after acquiring Spanish citizenship, he declared his fervent support for Spain`s same-sex marriage law. IANS