More than 500 people sign petition for a fair trial for Romani police officer
Karlovy Vary, 25.11.2009, 09:09, (ROMEA)

A petition on the innocence of a former police officer, Roma community member Martin Barkóci, is currently being signed in the Karlovy Vary region. The aim is to get Barkóci out of prison and retry his case. The court sentenced Barkóci to three years in prison for allegedly covering up an assault said to have been committed by two other Roma from the town of Ostrov. Aides to Czech Senator Jan Horník (ED-SNS) investigated the entire case and came to the conclusion that a new trial is needed, according to the internet news server of Czech Television.

The suit against Barkóci was based on the testimony of the alleged victim, whom the petition organizers consider an unreliable witness. They say the court did not review evidence favorable to Barkóci and that racial prejudice was evident in the judge’s closing speech at the trial. "Unfortunately, this is evidence of the state of the Czech justice system, the police, and naturally the state prosecutors,” the server quotes Senator Horník as saying.

The petitions are posted in several shops and notary’s offices, and Barkóci’s supporters are also approaching passers-by on the street for signatures. "We have collected 500 signatures during the last 14 days, 300 of them from Ostrov, where everybody knows him well,” petition organizer Helena Kotková said. People can learn more and download the petition and its signature forms at www.radnicnilisty.cz. It reads: “I demand a fair and independent retrial of the case of Mr Barkóci, a Romani police officer from Ostrov, who was condemned by the media for ‘covering up a racial lynching’, as well as a trial of the judge in his case for abusing the powers of a public official and for racketeering.”

The petitioners will deliver the signatures directly to the Justice Minister. “Another legal way to achieve a new, independent, fair trial is for the minister to exercise her legal option to hold a retrial. I basically see this petition ‘adventure’ as a sort of mirror of our society. This petition is a reflection of who we are, it says a lot about racism in this society – after all, this absurdly dramatized case is ‘only’ about a police officer from good-for-nothing Ostrov, and a Roma to boot. I am curious how people in the Karlovy Vary region will respond, whether they will dismiss this or whether they will be willing to take a stand against this civic wrong, or rather this judicial wrong,” petition co-author Jiří Kotek told Deník.cz.

Deník.cz reports that Miroslav Drobný, chair of the National Minorities Committee in Nejdek, is also involved in the petition. “I have contacted my colleagues from other towns. Personally, and as chair of the committee, I support this petition because I believe anyone in such a case should get a fair chance. If it can happen to him, it could happen to any of us,” the server quotes Drobný as saying. “The justice system has often made mistakes in the past, so attention must be paid to these cases and they must be reviewed.”

Justice Minister Daniela Kovářová told Czech Television she is very interested in the entire matter. She plans to request the Regional Court in Plzeň to send her the case file.

ROMEA, ČT24, Deník.cz, translated by Gwendolyn Albert
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