Czech Republic: Suspended sentences for 2011 attack on Roma

Of the five aggressive youths who brutally beat up two Romani people in Prague two years ago, three have been given suspended sentences and two will not be punished for their involvement at all. The victims were provided legal aid by the In IUSTITIA association, and without their involvement the case might never have even made it before a court, since police downplayed the severity of the assault from the beginning. 

Some of the perpetrators were football hooligans. They first verbally assailed and then physically attacked a group of Romani people in the neighborhood of Prague 5.

Two little girls managed to flee the assault and call for help. The father of one of the victims ran to his aid and was beaten by the attackers as well.

Course of the assault

The attack was committed one evening in May 2011 at Arbesovo náměstí in Prague 5. A group of Romani boys and girls were standing in the park on the square when a group of "white" youths walked past and began to shout racist insults at them.

The "whites" shouted curses such as "You black swine!", "Black mugs!", or "Die, Gypsies!" They also shouted the racist greeting of "Heil Hitler!".

The physical attack was very brutal, as the assailants even used a metal wastebasket from a nearby tram stop and a trombone stolen from a nearby bar. Two Romani girls watching the assault ran to the home of one of the victims and called for help. The father of one of the victims ran to their aid but since he was greatly outnumbered, he was eventually knocked to the ground and kicked by the assailants.

The father and son suffered injuries during the assault and were transported to hospital. The father in particular suffered contusions to his neck vertebrae and spent a long time out of work on disability wearing a neck brace. 

In IUSTITIA had to intervene

After the assault, most of the attackers were arrested by police. The matter was first investigated as a misdemeanor and the officers involved did their best to downplay the entire incident. 

"They did not take steps according to the Code of Criminal Procedure, but proceeded only per the Law on Police, which does not recognize victims’ rights. It was not until a staffer with the In IUSTITIA organization called to intervene that the police began following the Code of Criminal Procedure," lawyer David Oplatek of In IUSTITIA told news server Romea.cz.

The clients were enormously afraid the assailants would take revenge on them for reporting the incident. During the investigation it came to light that some of the attackers are members of the "Prague Boys" group, a fighting unit of racist rowdies who are fans of the Sparta football team.

One of the assailants had previously been convicted of physical assault and of robbery. However, neither the police nor the state prosecutor would grant the victims’ requests that their identities not be revealed during the prosecution. 

In October 2011, police charged a total of five assailants with the attack, all of whom had been arrested shortly after it happened. All were charged with felony attempted racially motivated battery and felony rioting.

"The investigation took a very long time – for example, the victims’ identification of the suspects did not take place until August 2012, more than one year after the attack, and the prosecution did not file its case until October 2012. The state prosecutor, however, disagreed with the police conclusions and did not list racial motivation in the final charges," Oplatek said.

Aggressors on trial

The criminal prosecution of one of the most aggressive assailants in the Prague 5 District Court was halted because the punishment in which it would have resulted was completely meaningless compared to the punishment the defendant was facing for another crime he was subsequently charged with. The other attackers were convicted and given suspended sentences without hearings being convened. Two of the assailants appealed that ruling and their cases went to trial in March 2013. 

Even after such a long time, the victims of the attack were afraid of encountering their assailants again. "We asked that the victims be able to testify without the defendants being present. The court granted that request and the victims were spared an unpleasant encounter which would only have intensified the trauma they already lived through," Oplatek said. 

The main trial resulted in one of the defendants receiving a suspended prison sentence and the other being acquitted. The victims were instructed to undertake a civil proceedings with respect to the compensation they sought; they appealed that verdict.  

In June 2013 the Municipal Court in Prague upheld their appeal and awarded compensation to the victims for the non-monetary damages incurred. The judge, when explaining the verdict, emphasized the fact that even though more than one assailant had been involved in the attack, as accomplices each of them were as responsible for it as if they had committed it alone. The judge also stated that the fact the victims had to participate in all the tasks associated with the criminal prosecution (police interrogations, identifying suspects, and testifying in the main trial), as well as the fact that the treatment of their injuries required frequent medical visits, was in and of itself evidence that non-monetary damage had been caused and that there was no need for further proof.