{"id":1459,"date":"2013-08-09T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2013-08-08T23:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/%20rroma.org\/09-08-2013-rroma-murders-in-hungary-four-right-wing-extremists-sentenced-to-long-prison-terms\/"},"modified":"2022-07-26T15:40:22","modified_gmt":"2022-07-26T14:40:22","slug":"09-08-2013-rroma-murders-in-hungary-four-right-wing-extremists-sentenced-to-long-prison-terms","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/rroma.org\/fr\/09-08-2013-rroma-murders-in-hungary-four-right-wing-extremists-sentenced-to-long-prison-terms\/","title":{"rendered":"09.08.2013 Rroma Murders in Hungary: Four Right-Wing Extremists Sentenced to Long Prison Terms"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Odehnal \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t(2013) reports on the judgment in the ongoing process against four right-wing \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tradicals that has been ongoing for several years. The defendants are accused of \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\thaving deliberately killed six Rroma. The judgments of the judges, three life \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tsentences without parole and one thirteen years sentence, are not yet final \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tbecause of the defence resource. Theses right wing activists, in a series of \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tattacks, had set fire to the Rroma houses and shot at the people fleeing from \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tthe fire. Only by analyzing mobile phone data of the defendants could it be \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tproved that they were at the times in question near the crime scenes. However, \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tthe trial does not address the dubious role of the local police. Odehnal \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tcomments: \u201cAs the German executive following \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tneo-Nazi murders, the Hungarians first investigated feuds amongst the victims. \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t[…] In Tatarszentgy\u00f6rgy the police suspected a faulty heater as a trigger of \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tthe fire, although there were shell casings at the scene everywhere.\u201d <\/em>Representatives \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tof the Fidesz party pushed the responsibility for the lack of investigation on \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tthe incumbent Socialist Party in power at that time.<\/p>\n

In his \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tcomments, Odehnal (2013\/II) is sceptical about the social resonance of these \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tsentences. In the Czech Republic, after a similar trial, there were increased \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tmarches of right-wing members and incitement against Rroma. Odehnal sees as a \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tproblem for the missing results of integration that the political elite of \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tHungary and other Eastern European states has not been held accountable for not \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tacting against racism in their own countries. Thus, Rroma were sidelined as \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tbefore, in spite of funding from foundations, the EU, and Switzerland.<\/p>\n

Baumann \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t(2013) adds that the victims\u2019 relatives accused the local police of serious \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tcorruption in the investigation of the murders. They tried to cover up \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tevidence. Even the racist motives behind these actions were not at all part of \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tthe process. The secret service failed to monitor two of the offenders until \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tshortly before the crime. Eng (2013) adds that the perpetrators are supposed to \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\thave planned the murders after a dispute with Rroma.<\/p>\n

The Basler \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tZeitung (2013) describes the sentencing more precisely: Two of the four \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tdefendants asked the court to not have to listen to the verdict. They were then \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tled back to their cells. The judgment is only the first instance one and can be \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tchallenged in higher courts.<\/p>\n

Ozsv\u00e1th \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t(2013) gives a voice to the families of the victims in his report. They are \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tstill stunned by the perpetrators lack of repentance and by the dysfunctional police \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tinvestigation: They even contributed actively to the elimination of proofs.<\/p>\n

Civil rights \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tleader Aladar Horvath himself Rrom, see the court\u2019s judgment as appropriate, \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tbut states that the crucial issues have not been discussed: the racism that \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tmotivated the killings and the objectives in connection therewith: \u201cThe sentences have been very high, and that \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tis appropriate for the actions. Unfortunately, however, they were imposed only \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tfor simple murder motives. The indictment stated that the killers wanted to \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tspark a civil war. They should have been charged with crimes against humanity \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tand terrorism with the aim of genocide.\u201d<\/em> While Hungary denies its own past, \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tas Horv\u00e1th states further, racist murders are possible again. According to \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tHorv\u00e1th, Hungary\u2019s role in World War II and the crimes of the communist \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tdictatorship were processed insufficiently (Verseck 2013).<\/p>\n

Kerenyi \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t(2013) sees the sentences of the four right-wing as being just the tip of the \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\ticeberg of a total social phenomenon: According to a new poll, 80 to 85 percent \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tof the population were \u201covertly or covertly racist against Roma\u201d, 36 percent \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tare committed explicitly to that Roma should be \u201cseparated from the rest of \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tsociety,\u201d that is, should be moved or deported to ghettos. A particular concern \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tis that pejorative comments about Rroma belong to the current fashion educated \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tcircles. Kerenyi assessment of Culture Minister Zoltan Balog is also \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tinteresting. Balog, who held a flowering lecture on the Hungarian efforts to \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tintegrate the Rroma at the beginning of the summer at the University of Zurich, \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tin which in spite of all the eloquence raised serious questions about the \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tcongruence of reality and his statements. Kerenyi comments: \u201cBalog is a contradictory personality \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tthrough and through. He belongs to the temperate wing of Orb\u00e1n\u2019s team, which \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tdoes not prevent him to grant regularly honours to racists and anti-Semits.\u201d <\/em>Also, \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tthe condemned right-wing radicals are only a part of the perpetrators, who \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tcommitted a series of assassinations of Rroma between 2008 and 2009. These \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\toffenders were up to now neither identified nor prosecuted.<\/p>\n

Balzer \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t(2013) spoke to the Hungarian journalist Szilvia Varr\u00f3 about the social \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tbackgrounds of the Rroma murders. A large part of the Hungarians, by far not \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tonly right-wing extremists, have great reservations about Rroma. Moreover, it \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tis common to simply ignore radical or controversial events: \u201cRacism and resentment were a problem \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\talready earlier. We Hungarians have never dealt with our past. Not with our \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\trole in the Second World War, not with the revolution of 1956 and even with the \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tseries of murders against Roma.\u201d <\/em>Most Hungarian media have not reported \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tabout the murders. Varr\u00f3 then started a project together with the filmmaker \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tAndr\u00e1s B. V\u00e1gv\u00f6lgyi: Actors known in Hungary were hired to retell the story of \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tthe action and the statements of the relatives. This piqued the interest of the \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tusually apolitical tabloids of Hungary. While the reactions from the right side \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\twere understandably negative, the echo of otherwise indifferent people was \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tpositive: They started to be interested in the topic and question ethnic \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tcategorizations: What if it was her son who had been shot? The state media did \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tnot pay any attention to the movies. The above-mentioned films can be watched \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tunder the following links:<\/p>\n

URL: http:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=HMjVjZDx7ug<\/a><\/p>\n

URL: http:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=n5z9aVB0Ktc<\/a><\/p>\n

URL: http:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=bzc2N9MirPI<\/a><\/p>\n

URL: http:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=qrWahe1pCWY<\/a><\/p>\n