Czech victim of "machete attack" reportedly has neo-Nazi past, knew attacker

New facts are coming to light in the case of last year’s brawl in the "Pivní pomoc" bar in the town of Nový Bor, which the Czech media refer to as the "machete attack" case. Defense attorney Klára Samková has claimed the conflict was not the first between the two groups involved, and that assertion has been upheld. One of the defendants, Antonín Sinu, and one of the victims have faced off at least one time previously during a different mass brawl, when neo-Nazis were celebrating the birthday of Adolf Hitler in a restaurant in Nový Bor. Their involvement in that incident has been confirmed by Regional State Prosecutor Radim Kadlček.

The 10-year-old case for the prosecution of that incident records that Sinu, who is 37 years old today, was armed with a machete during that attack but most probably did not harm anyone with it. "It cannot be inferred from the description of the crime that [Sinu] attacked anyone with the machete then," Kadlček pointed out.

During the brawl between Romani people and skinheads in the restaurant 10 years ago, one man was lightly injured with a long blade weapon, receiving a laceration to the forehead. At least two men in the brawling group were armed with machetes and Sinu was one of them.

"That person [Antonín Sinu] really was prosecuted in connection with the brawl and with rioting. The behavior of which he was suspected bore the traits of a violent felony. Nevertheless, the criminal prosecution of that particular defendant was halted," Milan Vencl, spokesperson for the District Court in Česká Lípa, told news server iDNES.cz today.

According to witnesses who testified about the incident 10 years ago, a group of Romani people ran into the "Za kostelem" restaurant where the neo-Nazis were celebrating Adolf Hitler’s birthday, but the neo-Nazis pushed them out of the restaurant using chairs as weapons. Police officers called to the scene then resolved a verbal altercation on the street between 10 skinheads and 20 – 30 Romani people. That was where the machete was seen in the hand of defendant Sinu 10 years ago.

One of the victims in last year’s "Pivní pomoc" incident celebrated Adolf Hitler’s birthday and participated in the subsequent brawl 10 years ago. "These guys definitely know one another very well. The entire Romani community knows the victims, because they are skinheads or promoters of that movement," Samková said. Both incidents seem to be of the nature of a mutual settling of accounts between ethnic Czechs and ethnic Romani people in the town.

"Some of the participants in that brawl 10 years ago are now the victims of last year’s attack. They were celebrating Adolf Hitler’s birthday in a pub 10 years ago when a brawl took place. I have been repeatedly drawing attention to the fact that for at least 15 years, the municipal authorities, the police, and the state prosecutor have been neglecting the problem that local Romani people have long felt it was impossible the authorities would ever stand up for them here. The result is last year’s machete attack," Samková told news server iDNES.cz.

Samková wants the 10-year-old case to become part of the file for the current trial of last year’s incident, but the state prosecutor in charge of the case is of a different opinion. "I don’t believe there is a connection between these incidents," he has said. The ethnic Czechs involved in last year’s conflict at the "Pivní pomoc" bar reject the claim that they are members of the neo-Nazi movement.

Three people were injured during last year’s incident in the bar, including one man who almost lost his life. Four of the assailants face charges of attempted murder and rioting; if convicted, they could face between 15 and 20 years in prison or even extraordinary sentencing. The two minors involved face sentences half as long. A fifth assailant could go to prison for anywhere between five and 12 years if convicted of grievous bodily harm and rioting.

Samková believes the charges of attempted murder are disproportionately high for most of the defendants. "I am not making light of the serious injuries caused to one man, which were of such a nature as to put his life at risk. No one else suffered such radical injuries," she said recently.

"If my clients had really wanted to murder those people, the testimony given to date makes it clear that nothing could have stopped them," Samková said. According to the testimony of a psychologist, last year’s attack was not planned, but was committed in anger.

Several anti-Romani demonstrations were held in North Bohemia last year, sparked by media reports of the conflict.