Three neighbours convicted for anti-Roma harassment against a family in Spain [editar]

Collaboration with police services in identifying and highlighting discrimination in order to denounce these cases and ensure that they do not go unpunished is of great value.

During this week, in Criminal Court No. 2 of Burgos, in Spain, three women of a neighbourhood community were convicted accused of a crime of coercion with the aggravating circumstance of anti-Roma hatred.

The reported harassment included a series of verbal insults that they hurled to the family, such as: "GITANOS DE MIERDA" (“FUCKING GYPSIES”) or "HIJOS DE PUTA" (“MOTHERFUCKERS”). In addition, it was alleged that the women sent a letter to the family in which they were called "SALVAJES" (“SAVAGES”). They were also accused of creating a hostile atmosphere in the neighbourhood against the Roma family: they placed a poster on the doorway calling on the neighbours to come to their house to check the noises. In addition, one of the accused posted messages on social networks complaining about the arrival of "large, problematic Roma families", which generated hateful messages against Roma people from other users.

The harassment suffered by the family from the moment they moved into the house, caused them great anxiety and fear, affecting their security, peace of mind and personal freedom. This untenable situation worsened over time and became more frequent, leading the family to finally relocate.

Fundación Secretariado Gitano, which reported these events to the Prosecutor's Office specialised in hate crimes and discrimination in Burgos and provided legal representation to the victims through Violeta Assiego, a lawyer specialised in hate crimes, expressed its satisfaction with this conviction, which focuses on the discriminatory harassment and antigypsyism suffered by many Roma families in neighbourhood communities and which limits their right to housing on equal terms.

Selene de la Fuente, lawyer of the Fundación Secretariado Gitano, who reported the facts to the public Prosecutor's Office and who has accompanied and advised the family throughout the proceedings, expressed that "this conviction recognises the anti-Roma harassment and bullying the family has suffered and at the same time sends a clear message to society that hate crimes cannot go unpunished".

This conviction has meant compensation for the family, who said that "we are very happy because the harm done to us has been recognised; our children were afraid to be at home, they were terrified when they dropped a pen on the floor and it was even us who had to leave the house. Now we hope that with this conviction no other Roma family will ever have to go through these situations again".

Below it can be found the Spanish media impact of this news (in SPANISH):