Czech court reviews case of assault based on mistaken identity

A court in the Czech town of Teplice has begin reviewing the case of four Romani perpetrators who assaulted two ethnic Czechs in front of a local restaurant in the town of Duchcov after an anti-Romani demonstration there. The attackers wanted to settle scores with a local racist and a member of the DSSS party, Jindřich Svoboda, who had organized the protest. 

The perpetrators instead beat up two completely different men. News server iDNES.cz reports that the start of Thursday’s trial was accompanied by a stormy atmosphere.

Many relatives of the defendants arrived at the courthouse, filling up the hallways in front of the courtroom. "The behavior of some of the relatives in front of the courtroom was emotional at times, especially when the defendants were escorted in handcuffs into the courtroom," presiding Judge Roman Dobeš told iDNES.cz.  

The defendants’ relatives ultimately calmed down; neither the bailiff nor the police had to intervene. The four Romani defendants are being tried for battery, defamation, rioting, threatening a public official and violence against members of a group. 

The defendants face up to five years in prison if convicted of the violence. The trial will continue in January, when the judge will hear the testimony of 11 proposed witnesses. 

"If all of them make it to court, it’s possible a verdict could be handed down soon," Judge Jaroslav Malchus, who is handling the case, told news server iDNES.cz. According to the prosecution, the attack was initiated by the father of two of the people involved in another, infamous attack committed on 18 May in Duchcov, when a group of Romani people beat up a non-Romani married couple.

When, after various delays, the court suddenly remanded the suspected assailants from the May incident into custody in July, their father decided to take revenge. Together with three other men, he set out on 13 July between 10 and 11 PM to find Jindřich Svoboda, the co-organizer of the first anti-Romani demonstration in Duchcov in response to the May attack.  

The father and his accomplices blamed Svoboda for inciting anti-Romani sentiment and believed the court’s decision to remand those involved in the May attack into custody reflected that sentiment. However, they got the wrong man. 

News server iDNES.cz reports that they beat up a completely different man on Teplická Street just after he left the U Svatýho pub, mistaking him for Svoboda because they were drunk. Police arrested three of the assailants at the scene of the attack.  

"Police arrested three men at the scene, but they let my partner go, they didn’t detain him. We were standing in front of the building later that evening and police officers passed by and greeted him normally," Renáta Lázová, the partner of one of the men involved, told news server Romea.cz in July. 

Police, however, say the fourth man fled the scene. Riot officers later arrested him at 12:30 AM in his home.

"He did not resist, but the riot police pushed him to the ground and beat him. Then they dragged him down the stairs, he was yelling in pain the whole time. They threw him onto the floor of their vehicle and sat with their feet on him, they wouldn’t even let him sit up in the seat. People I know told me the riot police took him to a place here we call the Viadukt and beat him up again there, his screams and shouts could be heard from there for 15 to 20 minutes," Lázová told news server Romea.cz.

"The suspect repeatedly disobeyed the police officers’ orders during the arrest. He actively resisted, so legal force had to be used against him," Daniel Vítek, the police press spokesperson for the Ústí Region, told Romea.cz in July.   

The brawl outside the pub had been preceded by a spree by right-wing extremists through the streets of the town. Approximately 40 citizens, including right-wing extremists, had gathered for the anti-Romani assembly.

Those assembled listened to a short speech on the town square and dispersed. Some of them headed for the southern part of town, which is the Romani neighborhood.

Police prevented them from marching further at the corner of Bílinská and Nádražní Streets. Zlatuše Tomášová, a field social worker with the Romani community in Duchcov, told news server Romea.cz she witnessed the neo-Nazis and riot police facing off that July day.    
Approximately 70 Romani residents responded to the anti-Romani assembly by gathering on Karel Čapek and Bílinská Streets. Some of the right-wing extremists had set off for those particular streets from the square.

"There were two Nazis here and they threw PET bottles at a staffer with the Květina civic association. The police arrested them and took them in for interrogation along with the victim," Tomášová told news server Romea.cz.   

"A small group of locals and neo-Nazis came here and cursed me out. Then a black car drove up with four people in it, two guys and two women. One pulled out a PET bottle half-full of beer and threw it at me," Štefan Horvát of the Květina civic association later told news server Romea.cz