Continuing Violence against Czech Roma

11 March 2005

According to the Czech daily newspaper, the spokesperson for the Písek District Police Department, was quoted as having stated that the woman tried to sit in an empty seat but the man, who was sitting in the next seat told her to go away and called her a "black bastard". The man then reportedly hit the Romani woman on the back and punched her on the left side of her face in front of the other passengers on the bus. On September 15, Ms Moltašová informed the ERRC, working in partnership with the Brno-based Association of Roma in Moravia that the Romani woman had been treated at hospital for bruises to her face. Písek police were investigating the incident, though the perpetrator had not yet been charged. Ms Moltašová stated that she could not reveal the names of either the Romani woman or the suspected perpetrator, but that the man faced charges of rowdyism and defamation of a nation, race or conviction, in accordance with Articles 202 and 198 of the Czech Criminal Code, respectively. As of January 11, 2005, no further information in the case was available. Further information on the human rights situation of Roma in Czech Republic is available on the ERRC website at http://errc.org.

(Association of Roma in Moravia, Ceskobudejovice listy, ERRC)