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Czech petition launched against verdict in Romani man's death

03 April 2014
2 minute read

An online petition has been created to express disagreement with the recent verdict of the Regional Court in the trial of Stanislav Sýkora. The 31-year-old Czech man attacked three Romani men on 24 May 2013.

One victim was stabbed in the chest and a second was stabbed in his arm and ear. The third victim, who was 49 years old, was slain by Sýkora during the brawl after being stabbed twice.

The incident occurred during the celebration of the opening of the spa season in Teplice last year. A man who had been entrusted by the owner of a stand to guard it blamed a group of Romani men for having committed a theft from the stand.

The guard called his friend, Stanislav Sýkora, for help. They set off in pursuit of the Romani men, caught up with them, and proceeded to assault them. 

Both the police investigation and the trial clearly proved that the Romani men had stolen nothing and that the initial accusation of theft had been invented. Sýkora has now been sentenced to five years in prison by the Regional Court.

"Despite all the evidence, the court did not find for racial motivation, even though defendant Sýkora attacked the Romani men solely because his friend, who had been entrusted with guarding a stand, called him to say he was having a problem with ‘gypsies’. The court also did not conduct itself in accordance with the principles of justice when it convicted Stanislav Sýkora of felony participation in an affray instead of felony murder or of grievous bodily harm resulting in death," the petition reads.

Those signing the petition disagree with this criminalization of the victims of Sýkora’s crime and are demanding an investigation of the decision handed down by the court in Ústí nad Labem on suspicion of its having broken the law. More than 200 people have signed the petition so far, which is available here (in Czech only).

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