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Czech Police charge Romani brothers with racially motivated assault

14 February 2014
3 minute read

Two brothers from the Czech town of Obora u Chomutic (Jičín district) could face up to 12 years in prison for a brutal attack committed against a witness to a traffic accident last September. The victim, a non-Romani man, was trying to aid a Romani child who had been knocked off his bike.

Police have now reclassified the case a second time and are charging the suspects with having perpetrated their attack with racial motivation. News server iDNES.cz reported today that the aggravated charges mean the pair could spend nine years more in prison if ultimately convicted.

Last September police officers first charged both suspects with rioting, but on the basis of a medical report about the victim’s injuries they reclassified the charges the next day to those of battery, for which the suspects faced three years in prison maximum. If convicted, the pair could now end up behind bars for as long as 12 years.

"The simple crime of battery has been reclassified as racially motivated grievous bodily harm, which includes a possible sentence of between five and 12 years," said Michal Chvojka, the Jičín district state attorney who submitted all of the material about the case to the regional-level state prosecutor at the start of February, according to iDNES.cz. The Romani brothers, aged 20 and 24, are suspected of having attacked the 31-year-old non-Romani man as he was endeavoring to assist the Romani boy who had been hit by a car while riding his bike.

The drunken Romani assailants evidently mistook the non-Romani man for a driver who had previously run another child who was a relative of theirs into a ditch, and they allegedly began attacking him with racist abuse. "They were yelling at us that we are ‘white swine’, that they know where we live, that they will slit our throats," said the father of the victimized man, who was also at the scene.

The drunken Romani men also assaulted another non-Romani man who tried to help the adult victim. "The car drove up and those two didn’t even ask what had happened, they started kicking and punching my son, they pushed him into the ditch and put him through the wringer there," the adult victim’s father described the brutal attack.  

The adult victim’s father claims that the assailants, who live in the same village and with whom there have never been problems before, have still not apologized. "My son has undergone two operations, his cheekbone has a plate screwed into it. He was on disability for about nine weeks, but now he’s back at work," the adult victim’s father said.  

The 11-year-old bicyclist was not injured during the incident. Regional-level detectives are now investigating the case and will interrogate the witnesses once more.

Court experts will also have to produce evaluations, which could take several months. "Both men are charged with racially motivated attempted grievous bodily harm and with rioting. One of them is charged with perpetrating this against two persons," confirmed Ivana Ježková, spokesperson for the Regional Police.  

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