Brno, Czech Republic: Romani protesters say the justice system uses a double standard

Almost 100 people, mostly Romani men and women, assembled outside the Regional Court in Brno, Czech Republic at 14:00 on Sunday to protest the court’s decision in the case of the death of a young Romani man in Brno last year. Those attending were responding to the fact that the court acquitted defendant Roman Rohazin, who is originally from Ukraine.

The presiding judge said Rohozin’s actions did not constitute a crime, but had been necessary to his self-defense. The demonstration was convened by people around the Roma Luma political party.

The secretary of the Brno-střed Municipal Department, Petr Štika, told the Czech News Agency (ČTK) about 50 people came to the courthouse for the demonstration. They carried the Czech flag and the Romani flag and chanted the slogan “This is our home.”

The event lasted about 30 minutes; a march through Brno had been originally announced to follow the demonstration, but did not take place. “How can a person who kills somebody with a knife be acquitted? Does anybody here understand this?” Roman Samko, chair of Roma Luma, asked those assembled.

“There are racists among us who despise the Romani community. One takes a knife, puts it in his pocket, goes to provoke a group of three Roma and ‘hooks’ them, and then says ‘I was defending myself’. This is an instruction manual on how to assault Romani people,” said Samko, before complaining about the low turnout for the demonstration.

Marco Cavali, a past chair of Roma Luma and current chair of the Association of Romani Entrepreneurs, Social Enterprises and Freelancers, cast doubt on the court’s decision in his speech. “There are many things that don’t make sense here, for example, the eyewitness testimonies. This person stabbed a young guy, why did he pull a knife on a guy who had his back toward him?” Cavali asked.

RECORDING OF THE DEMONSTRATION

“We want to show the judiciary, which claims to be independent, that we disagree with this, there have already been many Roma who have died violent deaths here, how many more Roma have to be killed for majority-society people to notice?” Cavali asked before proceeding to claim that in the Czech Republic, a double standard applies to the Roma. “We disagree with that, we want everybody to be measured by the same standard.”

“A Romani man has no rights in the justice system, if the situation had been reversed and it was a Romani man who had stabbed somebody, he would have been sentenced to prison. The gadje [non-Roma] will never do anything for us, we have to do it ourselves,” Cavali said before criticizing Brno’s Roma for not coming to the demonstration in larger numbers.

Jozef Daniel then called on Romani people to unite against the court decision. “I followed this case from the start and I believed the justice system is for everybody, but it’s not. The judge made a mistake. We all know how Romani people are tried, we are condemned just for skin color. It’s high time we get together and speak up,” Brno resident Jozef Daniel said.

Roman Samko then criticized the civil society members of the Czech Government Council on Roma Minority Affairs and Czech Government Commissioner for Roma Minority Affairs Lucie Fuková for not expressing their view of the court decision. “Where are you all? Have any of you heard that they have made a statement?” he asked the assembled demonstrators, who responded: “No!”

Samko then expressed appreciation for David Beňák, who filmed a video message on Saturday evening in support of Sunday’s demonstration. Cavali then spoke again and expressed his own support for Beňák by drawing attention to the fact that Beňák is running in the upcoming elections to the European Parliament and calling on other Romani people to run in the elections for the Regional Authorities.

“We have nobody to whom we can turn, currently we have the chance to support a person who can represent us. Go vote, the gadje will not stand up for us,” Cavali said.

Jan Červeňák then also gave a speech criticizing Czech Government Commissioner for Roma Minority Affairs Lucie Fuková, who in his view cannot aid Romani people because she is part of the Government. “Nobody has ever stood up for us. The only person who can stand up for us will be a Member of the European Parliament. Once the time comes to vote, tell yourself who you’ll vote for,” he said, calling for those present to vote for Beňák.

Roman Samko then reiterated his criticism of the Czech Government Commissioner for Roma Minority Affairs and the civil society members of the Czech Government Council for Roma Minority Affairs. “The Council cannot be heard, why are they there?” he asked.

Those assembled held a minute of silence for the deceased, Mr. Nicolas Zahrádka, at the end of the gathering. The incident that caused his death happened at the Brno Reservoir last June.

During a scuffle near a tram stop, Rohozin, who is from Ukraine, injured three people with a knife, one of whom, the young Romani man Nicolas Zahrádka, later died. Some Romani community members started spreading hatred of Ukrainians in the aftermath of the death.

On Friday the Regional Court acquitted Rohozin, finding that he had been defending himself against assault. “We find the behavior of the defendant has been proven to have featured the signs of necessary self-defense as defined by our Criminal Code. It is true that bodily harm was caused, as was the death of a young person. That is unfortunate. On the other hand, we will not criminalize behavior that conforms with what the law allows us to consider necessary self-defense,” Judge Dita Řepková said on Friday.

The verdict has yet to take effect.