Czech court sentences Romani orchestrator of attack in Děčín to 7.5 years

The Děčín District Court has sentenced the main actor in a brawl near the Calypso gaming room this past July to 7.5 years in prison. Zdeněk Jano will serve his sentence in a maximum security prison for committing grievous bodily harm, rioting, and failing to provide first aid.

Two other assailants involved were given suspended sentences for rioting and failing to provide first aid. David Czigány was sentenced by the court to 15 months in prison, suspended for three years, while Peter Horvát was sentenced to one year in prison suspended for 2.5 years.

The trio of young Romani men attacked two non-Romani men and a non-Romani woman. The attack sparked anti-Romani sentiments in the town.

The incident took place on 30 July at around 3 AM in front of the Calypso bar. Jano, according to the court, attacked one of the non-Romani men after a verbal skirmish, punched him, and then stomped on his face a minimum of seven times.

The victim suffered numerous facial bone fractures and soft tissue injuries. "I spent 12 days in hospital and another three months at home," the victim told the Czech News Agency previously.

The victim has suffered permanent consequences and undergone facial operations. The other non-Romani man was struck by the other assailants and the woman was also punched, according to the file.

After the attack the three defendants left the scene. The attack was, according to presiding Judge Pavlína Škachová, extraordinarily brutal.

"This attack was very aggressive, brutal, and crude. The defendant was not in any danger at that moment, he had plenty of opportunity to cease his behavior," she told the Czech News Agency.

Both Czigány and Jano apologized before the court and Jano also sent the man whom he beat up a letter of apology. "I regret this entire incident. I am willing to compensate the gentleman [the victim] after my release for all of the earnings he has lost as a result. I will avoid any similar incidents in future," Jano said in his closing remarks.

The judge explained her high sentence for Jano with reference to the fact that he is a recidivist. "The past of the main perpetrator was taken into account. He committed this felony while on probation for the intentional commission of other criminal activity, albeit of a different sort," she said.

Jano has the reputation of a brawler in Děčín and has also attacked Romani people. One Romani man whom he assaulted filed a criminal report against him, but police responded sluggishly to it, which he says is their habit in cases of problems inside the Romani community.

"It happened as I said it would," Roman Horváth, a long-term Romani resident who lives with his family in the Old Town of Děčín, told news server Romea.cz earlier. "If the police had arrested him back in July when he attacked me, this massacre might never have happened."

The verdict in the case of David Czigány has taken effect. The other two defendants are considering an appeal, as is the state prosecutor.

Less than two weeks after the attack in front of the Calypso bar an anti-Romani demonstration was held there by convicted con artist Lukáš Kohout. Approximately 200 people attended the demonstration.