Prague, Brussels, 21 March 2022: The decision of Czech authorities to close the investigation and discontinue legal proceedings relating to the death of Stanislav Tomáš, a Romani man who died after being forcefully restrained while being arrested on 19 June 2021, is an aberration of justice, a group of Czech and international human rights organisations have said today.

Brussels, 2 March 2022: New research published today by the European Roma Rights Centre (ERRC) details shocking inequalities in the experience of Romani people in the criminal justice systems of the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Serbia & North Macedonia. The report Justice Denied: Roma in the Criminal Justice System is a summary document of four national research reports which will be published later this year, co-produced by the ERRC and global criminal justice watchdog Fair Trials. 

Bratislava, Brussels, 24 January 2022: The District Court Košice II has ruled in favour of 9 members of a Romani community, who were forcibly evicted from their homes in the district of Nižné Kapustníky, Košice in 2012, under the pretext of waste removal by the city authorities. The inhabitants were offered no alternative accommodation after their homes were demolished, and as a result, they became homeless. Some of them were bussed to different part of the country. The Court has ruled, in its first instance judgment, that the City of Košice violated human dignity and the right to privacy of the plaintiffs and committed illegal discrimination on the basis of their ethnic affiliation.. Counsel Martin Mendel and Associate Richard Marcinčin from Dentons law firm represented the displaced families on a pro bono basis, working in co-operation with the European Roma Rights Centre (ERRC) which acted as a third-party in the proceedings.

The ERRC maintains a record of every public announcement we have made to the press. These provide information on human rights violations and ERRC legal actions, research and publications, submissions to international and national human rights bodies, other advocacy actions and human rights education outcomes. The press releases are listed by year and in reverse chronological order; click on the title to read the full version.