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Czech Republic: Anti-Romani tensions escalating in Havířov

26 November 2012
5 minute read

The “Hate is No Solution” Initiative (Iniciativa Nenávist není řešení – INNR) has recently begun providing legal representation to the victims of racially-motivated violence through its members, who have years of experience in the field of legal aid. Among other cases, they represented the victims of the arson attack in Vítkov on 18 April 2009. The perpetrators of that racist attack were given 20-year prison sentences and the victims were awarded almost ten million CZK. INNR is the only organization in the Czech Republic that actively seeks out the victims of racist violence, offers them legal aid, and represents them in court during hearings on their compensation.

INNR is now representing the victim of another severe attack. State prosecutor Roman Liška has indicted a defendant on suspicion of committing racially-motivated violence. On the evening of 20 August 2012, Mr Š.L., a 49-year-old Romani worker, was attacked in the center of Havířov as he was going to work the night shift for the company Arcolor Mittal. According to the indictment, he was attacked by a (non-Romani) juvenile who first punched him in the face and then repeatedly kicked his feet.

The trial began on 22 November 22 and will continue on 13 December 2012 in the Havířov branch office of the District Court of Karviná. The victim’s legal representative has filed an application for compensation of damages in the amount of approximately CZK 950 000 in claims for damages of pain and suffering, lost social status and loss of earnings. The victim has suffered permanent damage to his health which means he may not be able to find work again, specifically, contusions to his left cheek, a transverse fracture of the left tibia, and a tear of the deltoid ligament with partial dislocation of the ankle bone. The injuries required medical treatment over a period of 6-8 weeks and his rehabilitation therapy is still ongoing. The victim will face another surgery in January, after which the doctor in charge will be able to evaluate whether he can return to work or not.

The district state attorney indicted 21-year old Mr M.Š. of committing racially-motivated grievous bodily harm and rioting (as per Section 146, para. 1, 2 letter e and Section 358 of the Criminal Code). The defendant has previously been convicted of a similar crime and served prison time. He testified that on the day in question he was out celebrating having been granted parole with his elder brother and a friend. In court he admitted to having “hunted” Mr Š.L. into one of the lanes of a usually highly-frequented two-lane road, where he says he slapped him on the face just once. He denied having kicked him in the foot, where the victim suffered his most severe injuries.

Before the trial began, the defendant’s father sent CZK 7 400 to the victim, based on the victim’s physician’s estimate of the cost of his medical treatment. The victim’s representative asked the defendant in court whether he knew what that money was for. Mr M. Š confirmed that he knew the money was “for the foot”. When the victim’s representative asked him why he would pay for an injury he had not caused, according to his previous testimony, the defendant said: “I feel somewhat to blame”.

The court also heard testimony from eyewitnesses to the attack. One confirmed he heard the words “You black whore” and that the defendant later fled the scene of the crime. A member of the Municipal Police described how he tracked the suspect down near the crime scene and that the suspect was highly aggressive. After the suspect was detained, a judge remanded him into custody right away.

This incident is far from the first in which Romani people have been attacked in the area. In 1998, in the neighboring town of Orlová, a local Romani auxiliary worker, Milan Lacko, was attacked when he and his daughter passed by a pub where local neo-Nazis were drinking. Three of them chased him onto the road in front of the pub, where his body was later driven over by a local policeman. The protracted court proceedings finally proved the repeatedly scandalous failures of the law enforcement officials in charge of investigating the case, as well as the regional police director, and ended with sentences for “racially-motivated attempted aggravated bodily harm resulting in death”. The policeman who caused the death of Milan Lacko was given a suspended sentence and banned from driving for several years.

Just four years ago, a group of 12 masked young racists in three cars hunted down randomly-selected young Romani people in two different quarters of Havířov shortly before midnight one evening. They almost killed local Romani minor Mr J.H. by kicking in his head; he suffered permanent consequences that are still being medically treated to this day. The defendants in the case appealed their first-instance verdict and it is now being evaluated by the High Court in Olomouc. No verdict has yet taken effect and the defendants are being prosecuted at large.

At the end of 2008, Ladislav Baláž, Chair of the NGO Europe Roma, returned to Havířov from emigration in the UK. After his return, the inter-ethnic situation in the town calmed down. He secured Ostrava-based attorney Roman Krakovka for Mr J.H., who filed an application for compensation for his pain and suffering.

Recently Mr Baláž moved back to the UK after the police and the Czech Government Agency for Social Inclusion accused him spreading of rumors for speaking with local Romani people about a planned demonstration by the neo-Nazi DSSS party in the town. Back in London, he participated in the recent demonstration in front of the Czech Embassy against the segregation of Romani children in the Czech educational system and evictions of Romani residents in socially excluded localities.

After the departure of Mr Baláž from Havířov, inter-ethnic relations began to deteriorate. On the night of 1 June 2012, a group of neo-Nazis attacked Romani people in front of the local pub Bivoj in the Šumbark quarter. INNR has also noted a number of attacks against Romani people by local racists in Havířov recently which the victims have not reported to the police, apparently because they do not trust the local police or the courts. In the case of the attack on Mr Š.L. on 20 August 2012, it can be said that the both the municipal and the state police did their work professionally.

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