26.09.2014 Illegal Rroma police register in Sweden results in penalty payments of over one million Euros

The Wiener Zeitung (2014) reports on the judicial reappraisal of the illegal Rroma police register in Sweden. The database which registered the names, addresses, and identity card numbers of about 4,000 Rroma living in Sweden was in blatant violation of laws against racism and discrimination. Now, the Swedish police must make comprehensive redress payments to the victims: “the initiation of a general suspicion register towards Roma [costs] the police in Skane dear. The compensation payments already approved in May by the judicial oversight encompasses already now up to 1,800 approved cases and a total of over one million Euros. According to the regional radio station P4, the sum is likely to be even higher, because another 400 complaints about the payout of around 545 Euro are pending. In addition, there are constantly new complaints coming in, the news station reported on Tuesday. The payment of the claims must for now be made by the central police station in Stockholm, the radio report stated. The police in Skane suffers from chronic under-funding.” However, the really problematic thing about the case is, that it has shown that massive prejudice against the minority remains till today. The revelation of the illegally-run register led to great indignation but also consternation. It resulted in an extensive reappraisal of the situation of the minority in Sweden.