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ĽPR: Racial motivation must be investigated in case of Roma death after raid

22 October 2012
3 minute read

The Slovak organization Ľudia proti rasizmu (People against Racism – L’PR) recently drew attention to the case of 46-year-old Štefan I. who died after a raid conducted by the Slovak Police. News server Romea.cz publishes ĽPR’s press release below in full.

Regarding the publicized case of the death of Štefan I. from the village of Tornaľa, Ľudia proti rasizmu, as the subject authorized to represent the victim’s family, makes the following statement:

ĽPR strongly criticizes the lack of professionalism in the approach taken by the members of the Police Corps who intervened in the reported incident in the village of Tornaľa. Above all, we must emphasize that eyewitnesses say the police used tear gas without any effort to investigate the situation at the scene, probably without following the legal conditions for its use, and without prior warning.

During the subsequent investigation, the only witnesses deposed were those directly involved in the brawl, even though five other witnesses were available to testify on behalf of the deceased. While the official testimony taken from the witnesses involved says that Štefan I. was acting under the influence of alcohol, the file obtained by his family does not contain any record of a breath test having been administered. The police identified with the claims of those involved in the brawl without any further proof of Mr I.’s intoxication. They then gave Štefan I. a confession to sign, which he was unable to read as he had been poisoned by tear gas and was experiencing extreme nausea and tearing of the eyes, as confirmed by the emergency medical responders. After this flawed investigation, a misdemeanor charge of disrupting civil coexistence was filed against Štefan I.

After Štefan I. returned home he continued to suffer from general signs of asphyxiation: Nausea, vertigo, headache and difficulty breathing. On 17 May 2010 he succumbed to these symptoms. The doctor who performed the autopsy told his family members in conversation that the cause of death may have been slow, gradual poisoning caused by the police having made disproportionate use of the tear gas during the raid.

“This case is not just about the neglectful approach taken by the members of the Police Corps. In all of the depositions, Štefan I. was referred to as ‘the Rom’. This case shows the degree to which perceptions in Slovak society are governed by prejudice. Irrespective of the fact that Štefan I. was a member of the civil patrols and a law-abiding citizen, he was automatically, a priori considered a perpetrator without any proper investigation. There were five witnesses at the scene of the incident who could have confirmed his innocence,” says Alena Krempaská of ĽPR. Given the means used to subdue the victim, the disproportionate nature of the raid, and the approach taken by police toward Mr I’s interrogation (taking advantage of his indisposition to get him to sign a confession, failing to depose others present at the incident, identifying with the claim that the victim was drunk without performing a breath test), ĽPR considers it important that racial motivation be investigated with respect to the police officers’ behavior.

Irena Bihariová explains why ĽPR has taken up the case: “The public misperception is that ĽPR only devotes itself to cases where the victim is Romani and overlooks cases in which Roma are perpetrators. From the legal point of view, there is a difference between the kind of crime most often committed by members of the Roma minority and racially motivated crime. While the intention of those who commit the crimes of stealing or robbery (stealing with the use of violence) is to acquire valuable items, those who commit racially motivated crimes are motivated exclusively and a priori by the racial or ethnic identity of their victims. This is why ĽPR only involves itself in cases where there is a justifiable suspicion that the crime was motivated by a racist impulse, not a desire for personal enrichment.”

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