Czech court says assault was not racially motivated

At the start of December the trial of two non-Romani men who assaulted a Romani man in July 2013 in a bar in the town of Bystřice pod Hostýnem ended with a remarkable verdict. Even though 37-year-old Miroslav Vybíral was charged with the particularly serious crime of racially motivated attempted murder, for which he faced the possibility of extraordinary sentencing and a minimum of 10 years in prison he was ultimately convicted of grievous bodily harm and sentenced to six years.

His friend, Martin Urbanec, got away with a six-month sentence, suspended for two years. According to the online edition of the Zlín daily paper, Judge Jiří Dufek said the following when reading the verdict:  "We came to the conclusion that this was not racially motivated behavior,… [but] a misunderstanding in a bar that culminated in a rather brutal attack on the victim."

According to the court, the incident occurred after Miroslav Vybíral asked another non-Romani customer in the bar why he was friends with a "gypsy". Local resident Josef Utěkal, a 36-year-old Romani man sitting next to that customer at the counter, was offended and allegedly threw an ashtray at Vybíral, who then knocked the Romani man to the ground and brutally assaulted him with repeated kicks to his entire body and head.

Martin Urbanec, in the meantime, prevented  Utěkal’s "white" friend from coming to his aid. If other customers at the bar had not intervened and if the victim had not been provided rapid medical care, court experts testified that he might have died at the scene.

Both perpetrators fled the scene of the crime and it seemed as if the earth had swallowed them up. It was not until September of 2013 that police publicized a video recording of the incident and called on the public to help identify the perpetrators.

With the help of the public, the suspects were apprehended in November and initally charged with grievous bodily harm. After interrogating the defendants, the victims and the witnesses, the Zlín state prosecutor qualified the crime as racially motivated attempted murder.

The court was ultimately of a different opinion. According to the online edition of the Zlín daily paper, the verdict has yet to take effect; both state prosecutor Leo Foltýn and defendant Miroslav Vybíral are considering appeals.

Martin Urbanec has given up his right to appeal. Video footage from the bar released by TV NOVA does not show an ashtray being thrown; the discrepancy between the footage and the first-instance verdict may be explained if the High Court in Olomouc hears the appeal.