Detectives in Vysočina region are investigating a violent attack on a Romani family that may have been racially motivated. Petr Šváb of the Jihlava Police made the announcement earlier this week at a conference on extremism organized by the Vysočina Regional Authority. The incident occurred last year. The regional edition of Deník is reporting that Šváb did not want to reveal more details.
„I don’t want to talk about it yet, because it is a complicated case and we have not managed to prove racial motivation for the time being,“ Šváb told the Jihlava edition of Deník. He mentioned the case during a discussion with conference attendees who wanted to know whether extremists have been committing violence in the region.
The aim of the conference, which was supported by the Czech Education Ministry and the European Union, was to draw attention to extremism, which could become increasingly important given the current social situation in the region. Organizers also wanted to present the issue comprehensively with respect to the theoretical side and to familiarize participants with current trends and developments in extremism in the Czech Republic. Continue reading Czech conference on extremism: Detectives investigating violent attack on Romani family
Category Archives: Posts in English
Study warns of possible new attacks against Roma as neo-Nazi movement gains traction
A new study commissioned by the Interior Ministry has suggested that the neo-Nazi movement in the Czech Republic (estimated as 4,000 strong with 400 hardcore members) is successfully pushing an agenda of hatred and racism in troubled parts of the country. As it stands, the last decade or so saw a number of arson attacks against ethnic Roma families including a highly-publicised case where a toddler barely survived and was left with lifelong disabilities. According to the latest report, unless more comprehensive measures are taken soon, racially-motivated attacks spurred by the neo-Nazi movement, may increase.
I spoke to political analyst Miroslav Mareš who headed the project.
“Regarding neo-Nazism, the situation is fairly stable but what we are seeing is the rise of ‘usual’ racism: in socially-troubled areas we can see the involvement of the regular population in anti-Roma demonstrations and the neo-Nazis are the ‘drivers’ of anti-Roma activities and prejudices. Of course, there are a lot of problems regarding the issue but we can now hear racist statements from local politicians from non-extremist parties. And some extremists have said ‘Look, they are drawing from our traditional programme’.”
Neo-Nazis, then, are increasingly successful in pushing their agenda?
“I think that they are and now they are active in public demonstrations. At last year’s May 1 rally in Brno they were present along with members of the far-right Workers Party of Social Justice. That is what has been happening.” Continue reading Study warns of possible new attacks against Roma as neo-Nazi movement gains traction
Museum of Romani Culture to commemorate mass transport of Romani people from the Nazi Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia
On Wednesday, 7 March 2012, it will have been 69 years since the first mass transport of Romani people from the city of Brno and other parts of Moravia under the Nazi Protectorate to the death camp at Auschwitz. On this occasion, the Museum of Romani Culture, as is its tradition, will commemorate this tragic event. The commemoration will take place in the fourth hall of the museum’s permanent exhibition, which is dedicated to the topic of the Holocaust.
The commemoration will take place on Wednesday, 7 March 2012 starting at 14:00 CET and will be attended by several individuals who remember the transport as well as by representatives of public life. After a brief historical introduction, flowers will be laid in front of the memorial plaque and those invited to do so will speak. A brief musical performance by Romani artists will also be part of the commemoration.
The transport of 7 March 1943 was the first mass transport of Romani people from the Protectorate to the death camp of Auschwitz II-Birkenau. It was ordered by Heinrich Himmler, the Interior Minister of the Reich and leader of the SS, on 16 December 1942. He prescribed the forced concentration at the Auschwitz camp complex of all who were racially labeled as „gypsies and gypsy half-breeds“ in German-occupied territory.
In Brno the transport began from the stables of the mounted division of the Protectorate Police force, which were located in Masná street. At the start of March 1943, entire families from the Romani settlements in Brno and other parts of Moravia were concentrated there in inhuman conditions. All of the prisoners had to hand over all of their personal documents and were ignominiously shaved and disinfected. According to the list that was drawn up, on 7 March 1943 they were brought to the loading dock of the local municipal slaughterhouse and forced into the freight cars that brought them to their destination. On that day, more than 1 000 Romani children, men and women of all ages were transported. Most of them did not survive.
You can find more information on the website of the museum, www.rommuz.cz.
Quelle/Source: Romea.cz
Stand/Update: 02.03.2012
Roma families at renewed risk of forced eviction in Belgrade
Thirty-three Roma families, many of whom had fled the war in Kosovo, could be forcibly evicted from their homes in Belgrade, Serbia. The eviction has been set for the 7th of March.
If evicted, the Roma families from Belgrade are likely to be re-housed in metal containers. Some from Kosovo have been offered places at collective refugee centres which are not only inadequate but have already been slated for closure by the government. Others have been told that they must return to Kosovo, where they may be at risk of discrimination, or be left homeless.
The same families were previously threatened with forced eviction in November 2011. After Amnesty and other human rights groups took up the campaign – and thousands of you took action – the eviction was delayed and a working group comprising of government, city authorities and human rights groups was set up to prepare a resettlement plan for residents. However, at a recent meeting of the working group, the Ministry for Environment, Mining and Spatial Planning announced that evictions would go ahead as soon as the weather allows.
Quelle und weitere Informationen: Amnesty.org.uk
Stand: 01.03.2012
Slovak court rules against segregation in education
The elementary school in the Slovak village of Šarisské Michaľany in the Prešov region must desegregate Roma classes as ordered by a court decision communicated earlier this month, said Amnesty International and the Slovak non-governmental organization (NGO) Center for Civil and Human Rights.
In a landmark decision, the Prešov District Court ruled on 5 December 2011 that the school had discriminated against Romani children by teaching them in separate classrooms without reasonable justification. The decision was delivered by the court on 3 January 2012.
“For the first time a domestic court in Slovakia has addressed the widespread and unlawful practice of segregated education of Romani children that affects the lives of thousands of children and traps them in a cycle of poverty and discrimination,” said Barbora Černušáková, Amnesty International’s expert on Slovakia.
“Romani children in the elementary school in Šarisské Michaľany are starting the new term in segregated classes but it must not be for long. The school must make immediate arrangements so that they can enjoy the same educational standards as other children within integrated classes,“ said Stefan Ivanco from the Centre for Civil and Human Rights. Continue reading Slovak court rules against segregation in education
Memories of a Bosnian Roma
20 years ago a group of Serb paramilitaries destroyed a Roma village in Eastern Bosnia, killing all the residents. A child survived and, today, he is asking for his people justice before the Belgrade’s War Crimes Prosecutor
What happened in Skočić on July 12th, 1992?
We had just come back home. My father worked as a bricklayer and had decided to take us all to Serbia for some days, because the situation in Bosnia was very tense. After a while things appeared to be improving, and everyone was saying that there would be no war. So we returned to Skočić, near Zvornik, where we lived. On July 12th, at approximately 9 in the evening, two trucks full of soldiers came into the village.
Was it the Yugoslav army?
No, they were paramilitaries. It was the band of Sima Bogdanović, Sima “the Chetnik“.
Did they come from Bosnia or Serbia?
From Serbia. Continue reading Memories of a Bosnian Roma
Czech Republic: Yet another arson attack on a building with Romani tenants
Two masked, unidentified men threw Molotov cocktails at a residential hotel in the Czech town of Aš, home to two Romani families as well as non-Romani residents. One bottle struck a window and another struck the main door. Residents put the fire out themselves. Police are investigating the case as one of racially motivated reckless endangerment. No one was physically injured. Police have summoned reinforcements to Aš from Cheb to monitor the situation for the next few days.
The attack has been condemned by Czech Deputy Prime Minister Karolína Peake (Public Affairs – VV). Mayor of Aš Dalibor Blažek said the residential hotel houses two Romani families and non-Romani workers. For the time being it is not clear how many people were put at risk.
„The perpetrators were two men who were thin and about 180 cm tall. Police are asking any witnesses of this incident to call 158,“ police spokesperson Pavel Valenta said in a public statement. The attack took place at 2:30 AM in Nádražní street. The assailants then fled in the direction of Palackého street.
The Molotov cocktails damaged the plaster and set fire to the window of an apartment where people were sleeping. The main door to the building also caught fire, but residents put both fires out. „The fire didn’t get in because the windows are double-paned and the bottle made it through the first pane only,“ Valenta told news server iDNES.cz.
The Czech Press Agency has reported that firefighters intervened at the scene. The precise number of Molotov cocktails used in the attack was not given by the police spokesperson. Continue reading Czech Republic: Yet another arson attack on a building with Romani tenants
Human rights official: Segregation of Roma at school not changing
Segregation of Romany children at school is not much decreasing in spite of the criticism which the country has faced for a long time, Czech Government Human Rights Commissioner Monika Simunkova told CTK Monday in reaction to the Council of Europe’s (CE) latest report.
The report was released by Human Rights Commissioner Thomas Hammarberg released Monday.
He writes that too many Romany children are still placed in special [newly called practical] schools in spite of a law from 2004 that was designed to improve the situation.
It is estimated that 30 percent of Romany children are sent to these schools over their light mental disability, compared with a mere 2 percent of non-Romany children.
Under the Education Ministry’s decrees only children with a light mental handicap are to attend practical schools if their parents give an informed consent as from the current 2011/2012 school year.
Simunkova said, however, the light mental disorder is often mixed up with social disadvantage.„The situation is not changing, unfortunately. The Czech Republic should do more in this respect,“ Simunkova said.
She said the steps of the strategy against social exclusion the government passed last year must start to be pushed through.
One of them is the strengthening of pre-school preparation. Children from ghettos should this way learn the abilities and habits necessary for managing the attendance of regular schools and the lessons.
They should be helped by assistants who would be financed from the money earmarked for funding the practical schools, Simunkova said.Hammarberg’s report also speaks about collective violent crimes against Romanies in the Czech Republic and Hungary, for instance.
The latest such case happened in the night from Saturday to Sunday when two unknown men threw several Molotov cocktails into a dormitory in As, west Bohemia, where also Romanies live.
Hammarberg also pointed to forced sterilisation of some Romany women in the past.
The Government Human Rights Council has recommended to the government that the state compensate the victims. The government might discuss the proposal in a few months.The Czech Republic lost a lawsuit with 18 young Romanies from north Moravia at the European Human Rights Court in November 2007 already.
According to the verdict the Czech Republic breached the Romanies‘ right to education and discriminated against them when it relocated the Romany children to special schools.
Quelle: Prague Daily Monitor
Stand: 28.02.2012
Strasbourg Court tells Czech Republic to pay compensation for death of Romani man at police station
The European Court for Human Rights (ECtHR) decided today that Czech authorities did not sufficiently investigate the circumstances under which 23-year-old Vladimír Pecha died at a police station in Brno in June 2002. The court ruled that many procedural errors had been committed and that the death of the young man, who weighed only 58 kg, would not have occurred had police officers not led him past windows without bars and had they had kept better watch over him. The judgment is available here: http://cmiskp.echr.coe.int/tkp197/view.asp?item=1&portal=hbkm&action=html&highlight=Eremi%E1%u0161ov%E1&sessionid=86633519&skin=hudoc-en
„The Court came to the opinion that Mr Pecha’s right to life was violated,“ David Zahumenský, chair of the League of Human Rights, said today. The Court has awarded compensation to the deceased man’s loved ones in the amount of EUR 20 0000 (about CZK 506 000) and another EUR 4 000 eur (about 101 000) as compensation for their court costs.
Zahumenský says the case is the first-ever instance of the ECtHR criticizing the Czech Republic for violating the right to life. „We hope this precedent will motivate the Czech Republic to improve its approach toward investigating cases wherein police are suspected of abusing their power or where crime victims are concerned,“ Zahumenský told the Czech Press Agency today.
The ECtHR criticized the fact that the police escort neglected the Romani man’s security when he was in their custody. The youth was not handcuffed and the officers led him past a window with no bars on it. Other mistakes were made during the investigation of his death. The ECtHR found that the Czech authorities‘ investigation had been based entirely on the police officers‘ statements and testimony, which means it cannot be considered entirely independent. Continue reading Strasbourg Court tells Czech Republic to pay compensation for death of Romani man at police station
Czech neo-Nazis going to Rotava this weekend brought German neo-Nazis to last fall’s protest there
On Saturday, 29 October 2011, the Workers‘ Social Justice Party (Dělnická strana sociální spravedlnosti – DSSS) held an anti-Romani demonstration in Rotava (Sokolov district) together with neo-Nazis from Germany. The DSSS has itself been infiltrated by neo-Nazis, including its cells in the Karlovy Vary region.
One section of Rotava, a small town on the border between the Czech Republic and Germany, is generally considered to have the most socially excluded locality in the entire Karlovy Vary region. Support from local residents is the main reason the DSSS is returning to Rotava this weekend. The website Antifa.cz covers this topic and has published an extensive new article, „Nazis in Rotava“, which news server Romea.cz is excerpting below. The full article can be read (in Czech only) at http://www.antifa.cz/content/nackove-v-rotave .
There are roughly 13 localities on the territory of the Karlovy Vary region that can be considered „socially excluded“. In 2005 the Czech Labor and Social Affairs Ministry commissioned the „Analysis of Socially Excluded Romani Localities and Communities and the Absorption Capacity of Entities Working in the Area“ (Analýza sociálně vyloučených romských lokalit a komunit a absorpční kapacity subjektů, působících v této oblasti). In that analysis, Rotava was labeled as the most socially excluded locality in the whole region. At the time, news server Romea.cz published the following commentary, from which we now cite the following as having been prescient:
„Municipalities often do not know what to do to address the bad situation in which residents of these localities find themselves. Most residents live in privately-owned buildings which the town and villages have no influence over. Other towns in the region with predominantly Romani neighborhoods include Aš, Cheb, Kraslice and Sokolov, while small villages also have such neighborhoods. However, the approach taken by the private owners of the buildings is not uniform. For example, on Wolkerova street in Cheb, the landlords have made almost no investment into repairing their properties, while in Sokolov the buildings have gradually been repaired. However, once such properties are renovated, a large part of their original tenants have to leave them. The town that social workers consider a ticking time bomb is Rotava. In recent years, dozens of Romani people from all over the region have been moving there.“ Continue reading Czech neo-Nazis going to Rotava this weekend brought German neo-Nazis to last fall’s protest there