Neo-Nazis sentenced without possibility of parole for attack on Romani man
On 8 April the Regional Court in Prague sentenced brothers Ondřej and Jakub Neuman to sentences without the possibility of parole for brutally attacking a Romani man in Beroun last year. The verdict, which has yet to take effect, sentenced Ondřej Neuman to four years in prison for attacking the man with a garden hoe, while Jakub Neuman was sentenced to one year in prison, according to Mediafax.
Jakub Neuman, who is 27, will serve his sentence in a minimum security prison. His 24-year-old brother will serve in a maximum security prison.
The conflict occurred last February in Beroun. At 1 AM, a small group of young people, including the two brothers, were trying to convince another youth they had met on the street to go the pub with them. Even though the youth had previously been friends with the brothers, he refused their invitation out of fear. Mediafax reports that the youth testified in court, “I had been told they wanted to beat me up.” At that moment, a 30-year-old Romani man passed by and asked the youth whether everything was all right. The question irritated the younger brother, who responded with insults like “What do you want, nigger?” and “Get out of here, scum”.
The Romani man fled, but the younger brother caught up to him in the middle of the street and punched him in the face. The Romani man punched him back and fled again, but the brothers followed him home. A garden hoe was leaning against the gate, which the older brother grabbed and used to repeatedly strike the Romani man in the head. The brothers then left, shouting racist slogans and the Nazi salute.
Police found the suspects through a mobile phone that was dropped at the scene of the incident and contained videos with fascist topics. A search in the younger brother’s home turned up other material with military and Nazi content. The younger brother did not hide the fact from the court that he was also in contact with the neo-Nazi “Autonomous Nationalists” movement.
