{"id":1312,"date":"2014-08-01T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2014-08-01T00:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/ rroma.org\/01-08-2014-trial-racist-facebook-posts-against-rroma\/"},"modified":"2014-08-01T00:00:00","modified_gmt":"2014-08-01T00:00:00","slug":"01-08-2014-trial-racist-facebook-posts-against-rroma","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/rroma.org\/fr\/01-08-2014-trial-racist-facebook-posts-against-rroma\/","title":{"rendered":"01.08.2014 Trial: racist Facebook posts against Rroma"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Several Austrian \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tnewspapers report on a court case against the members of an anti-Semitic \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tFacebook-group, who, in a series of messages against the Rroma openly called \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tfor violence against the minority: \u201cBecause \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tof racist comments on Facebook about a tumultuous confrontation between locals \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tand members of the Roma on September the 2nd, 2013 in Bischofshofen, on Wednesday \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tseven out of eight accused men aged 18-39 years stood on trial. Some of the \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\taccused who are mostly coming from Salzburg are accused to have called for \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tviolence\u201d<\/em> (Salzburger Nachrichten 2014\/I). Through extensive research work, \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tthe authorities were able to reconstruct all entries of the Facebook group that \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\twere deleted after the initiation of the lawsuit. The eight-mentioned members \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tof the group were accused of racist abuse and demagoguery. Seven of them are \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tnow standing trial where they had to justify their hostility: \u201c\u201cMolotov cocktails\u201d ought to have been \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tthrown into the camp of the Roma and \u201cthe riffraff should be exterminated\u201d, coud \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tbe read there. A defendant actually requested the “final solution” \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tthe [prosecutor] Neher stated disgustedly. These comments were visible to the \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t2,442-members of the Facebook group, the prosecutor blamed the accused. One asked \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tfor violence against the Roma and they were “insulted in inhumane, hurtful \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tway. […] The reproached offenses are punishable by a sentence of up to two \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tyears\u201d<\/em> (Salzburger Nachrichten 2014\/I). Most of the respondents replied \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tthat they didn\u2019t mean it seriously and got carried away by the other entries. \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tThis raises the question as whether one can in any context be \u201cnot serious\u201d \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\twith such inhuman statements. Telling is that most of the accused considered \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tthemselves immune from prosecution in the anonymity of the internet and didn\u2019t \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\texpect any consequences for their actions. Only one of the accused was \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\teffectively present at the physical confrontation near the ski jump in \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tBischofshofen. During the riots the youths provoked around 200 Rroma who camped \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tlegally on the grounds near the ski jump. After initial verbal attacks the \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tconflict quickly degenerated into a physical pogrom. As the Kurier (2014) \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tcommunicated on the evening of July the 30th, all the accused were sentenced to \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tsuspended sentences of imprisonment, the maximum amounted to four years (compare \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tDie Presse 2014, ORF 2014, Salzburg 24 2014, Salzburger Nachrichten 2014\/II).<\/p>\n