Romani police officer Barkóci in prison, Czech Senator Horník wants to reopen his case

Czech Senator Jan Horník (Karlovy Vary) intends to turn to the Czech Justice Minister and the Czech Minister for Human Rights with a request to reopen the case of Romani police officer Martin Barkóci of Ostrov. Barkóci has been sentenced to a three-year prison term for allegedly abusing his powers as a police officer and covering up for two other Romani men who beat up a non-Romani man on the street in Ostrov two years ago. Senator Horník believes Barkóci is innocent. He made the announcement to ČTK yesterday while accompanying Barkóci on his way to prison.

Jiří Kotek, a regional-level representative and assistant to Senator Horník, has been working with Barkóci on the case. “The entire case is very strange. I immersed myself in it together with the lawyers to see if we could find any evidence to back the charges against Mr Barkóci, and we found absolutely none,” Kotek said.

Senator Horník is also of the opinion that the courts have failed in this case. “Unfortunately, this tells us a lot about the state of the justice system, the police, and the state attorneys, and this is not the only case in the Karlovy Vary region in which they behave this way,” Horník said. “This could happen to any of us next,” he warned.

“In my entire life I have never experienced a more direct concentration of racism than what came out of the mouth of the so-called prosecutor and judge in the courtroom at the High Court in Prague. Mr Barkóci did not abuse the powers of a public official, did not extort anyone, did not conspire with anyone, and did not cover anything up, because this alleged ‘racial lynching’ never even occurred,” Jiří Kotek said.

The event which led to yesterday’s imprisonment of Barkóci occurred in December 2007. According to the prosecution, two Romani men are alleged to have attacked a non-Romani man by striking him on the face and chest with a shovel handle. Barkóci, who arrived at the scene as a police officer, allegedly said to the victim: “They should have killed you here. Be careful what you say about this.” The victim also alleges Barkóci attempted to influence his testimony during his interrogation. The court subsequently ruled out any racist motivation.

Today Barkóci, who is no longer on the force, says he is innocent and the entire case is a conspiracy against him. “I will continue to fight from behind bars,” he said yesterday when parting from his family. His former colleagues from the police force also came to the prison to say good-bye to him.