07/08/2013
FSG / EP
A Hungarian court has sentenced four men – three of them to life imprisonment and one to thirteen years in prison – who killed and injured members of Roma families and spread terror among the Roma minority in Hungary between 2008 and 2009.
As reported by El País on 6 August: “The home of a Roma family caught fire on 23 February, 2009. They had sent several Molotov cocktails through the window. It occurred at 1am in Tataszentgyörgy, 32 kilometres from Budapest. When fleeing the fire, the father, 27, and one of his sons, aged five, were shot dead. Two other children were injured. Four years after the wave of crimes against Roma that shocked the country between 2008 and 2009, today a Hungarian court sentenced three men to life imprisonment and a fourth to 13 years in prison for six racist murders” (translated from Spanish).
The judgment is exceptional and has, according to Erika Muhi, who is responsible for the organisation of the legal defence of minorities Neki, "exemplary value" in a country where the Roma, who make up about 8% of the population of 10 million Hungarians, are the main victims of right-wing attacks and discrimination. “Although it may not change the attitude of society, we are confident that the court's decision has a deterrent effect”, adds Muhi. Racism against Roma has immersed itself in the public debate fuelled primarily by the far-right party Jobbik and its fierce anti-Roma and anti-Semitic rhetoric since it entered Parliament in 2010 as the country’s third political force. Jobbik portrays the Roma as a group of vagrants living off subsidies, dedicating themselves to having children and to petty theft.
The series of murders in 2008 and 2009 created a climate of fear among the Roma community spurred by the Hungarian Guard, an organisation of uniformed civilians that was dedicated to patrolling villages in order to terrorise the this minority. Although banned since 2009, other violent groups operating in the country under other names, and similar methods have emerged, with the latest serious incident occurring last summer. Two of the four men convicted were part of a right-wing faction that is distinct from the Hungarian Guard, which one of them considered to be "ineffective" against the Roma, as reported by Eszter Jovánovics of the Hungarian Civil Liberties Union upon leaving the court. The group planned and executed the murders for months. One of its objectives was to achieve "the radicalisation of Roma and that there be ethnic violence," explains Kristof Domina, Director of the Athena Institute in Budapest, specialising in extremist groups.
"With this ruling, the court has fixed prior procedural errors", affirmed Jovánovics with reference to failures during the investigation. However, she claims that four years later, "neither the police nor prosecutors are specialised in investigating hate crimes, and there are no specific protocols or databases or methods adequate protection of victims. Moreover, the police tend not to take into account the racist element of the crimes, and treats them as ordinary crimes. It is a systemic problem here."
One day before the ruling, the mother and grandmother of the father and child murdered in Tataszentgyörgy told Reuters: "It's just like it was four years ago. It might be harder for us because of all the heartache that made us numb to life, but we can't seem to get out of this racism, this poverty." She added that strangers still come through the woods late at night and stalk her house.
Hungary’s Human Resources Minister Zoltan Balog, who is responsible for Roma inclusion, affirmed that the verdict "strengthens my belief that no perpetrators of racist crimes can escape the law in Hungary, and especially savage murderers pay a worthy penalty for their deeds".
ER-0747/2014
