Czech state prosecutor agrees shooting of Romani men in Tanvald was self-defense

Radim Kadlček, the state prosecutor for Liberec Region, has informed the Mediafax agency that the man who shot dead one Romani youth and wounded his brother on New Year’s Day in the Czech town of Tanvald will not be prosecuted. The Supreme State Prosecutor has rejected a complaint filed against the regional-level prosecutor’s office, which previously evaluated the case as one of necessary self-defense and shelved it.

“The Supreme State Prosecutor has rejected the complaint as unfounded. The decision to throw the case out has therefore taken effect,” confirmed Kadlček, who was responsible for the case.

“The use of a firearm against an assailant armed with a knife or other blunt object, in circumstances where the attackers presumably outnumbered their victim, as well as other circumstances of the case, are all evidence of the seriousness of the attack. The shooter had no other recourse of effective defense available to him,” said Kadlček. The man was allegedly attacked from behind by a group of assailants in an isolated location under cover of darkness.

The police investigation previously reported that the 63-year-old shooter got into a conflict on the outskirts of Tanvald with a 22-year-old Romani man and his 24-year-old brother for petty reasons at 1:30 AM on New Year’s Day. The youths reportedly attacked the man and pushed him to the ground. From a prone position, the man reportedly pulled out his weapon, for which he had a permit, and shot them. The younger brother died at the scene, but the older brother made it home with a gunshot wound in his side.

The regional-level prosecutor ruled in June that the incident was one of necessary self-defense. The ruling has not taken effect until now because the victims’ family filed a complaint against it.

The state prosecutor can now start investigating the attack that preceded the shooting. “We will consider the criminal liability of the others involved, i.e., specifically the liability of the man who has been considered a victim in the case as it has been investigated up until now,” Kadlček said.