Yesterday the District Court in Bruntál sentenced two right-wing extremists for attacking the audience of a heavy metal concert in Rýmařov. Tomáš Vassiov received a two-year sentence without parole. David Vaculík, who is also suspected of having perpetrated the arson attack in Vítkov, was sentenced to six months on parole. More perpetrators were involved in the attack, but police never succeeded in proving their identities.
"They were wearing balaclavas. All of the suspects denied having been at the scene," state prosecutor Kateřina Krčová said after the verdict was announced. However, Vassiov and Vaculík were condemned by mobile phone call records, according to which they made phone calls at the scene of the crime both during its commission and immediately afterward. Both defendants refused to testify. "I have nothing to do with this," Vassiov said. "There is no evidence against me," Vaculík said. Both have appealed the verdict. The state prosecutor has asked for time to consider whether the state will appeal as well.
Judge Vladimíra Kikerlová said the defendants’ behavior was very dangerous to society. "This was an organized, planned action,” she said. When asked about the charges against Vaculík in the Vítkov case, Kikerlová said she could not be influenced by any other criminal proceedings. Vaculík had previously received a suspended sentence for a similar attack on a different club, but since he has never done jail time, Kikerlová did not consider him to have a felony record. However, she said he is prone to violence and that the level of his violence is increasing.
Václav Cojocaru testified as a witness yesterday. State prosecutor Krčová said one of the suspects called Cojocaru’s number from Rýmařov during and after the attack. Cojocaru also faces charges for the arson attack in Vítkov together with Vaculík and two other extremists. He has confessed to his part in the arson, but claims he did not know anyone was living in the house.
Just before midnight on 25 October 2008, approximately 20 masked assailants attacked the Erna restaurant in Rýmařov, where a rock concert was taking place. One of the assailants threw a tear gas grenade into the audience, which began to flee through the front door. Temporarily blinded by their tears, the audience members were then attacked by masked neo-Nazis with sticks, brass knuckles, collapsible nightsticks and other weapons. The assailants then jumped into their cars and drove off. One victim, an 18-year-old youth, was hospitalized in Bruntál. The tear gas also leaked into a residential hostel on the upper floors of the building, so firefighters had to evacuate seven residents and air out the space.
In 2003, Vassiov was sentenced to five years in prison for a racially motivated attack. Together with other racists, he attacked three Roma in Ostrava in June 2001. The assailants randomly selected their victims on a tram and attacked them for no reason in a pedestrian underpass, kicking them, stabbing them with knives and shooting at them with a gas pistol. One of the Roma was stabbed four times, twice in the lung area, surviving the attack by pure chance. Vassiov spent three years in prison and was then released on parole. The attack in Rýmařov occurred while he was still on parole. He had also been sentenced twice prior to that for racially motivated crimes. After his release from prison, he has always actively rejoined the neo-Nazi movement.
Police have charged four neo-Nazis from the Bruntál area in connection with the arson attack in Vítkov. In addition to David Vaculík and Ivo Műller, who are from Horní Benešov, the other suspects are Jaromír Lukeš and Václav Cojocaru of Opava. All four have frequently participated in events convened by National Corporativism, National Resistance or the Workers’ Party. They have almost always turned up in the company of Tomáš Vassiov, who is considered one of the main initiators and organizers of extremist actions in the Czech Republic. Media reports say Vaculík has repeatedly sponsored the neo-Nazi Workers’ Party over the long term.
The arsonists attacked the home of a Roma family in Vítkov during the early morning hours of 19 April, throwing three Molotov cocktails into the building. The subsequent blaze completely destroyed the house. Of the nine-member family, three people were injured: Anna Siváková, Pavel Kudrik, and their two-year-old daughter Natálka, who suffered burns over 80 % of her body. The suspects face between 12 to 15 years in prison and perhaps even extraordinary sentencing.
vybrali.sme.sk
