Tag Archives: Justice

Czech Republic News Eastern Europe

Czechia and Roma

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Czechia and Roma

According to lawyer Maroš Matiaško, the decision of the European Court of Human Rights in the case of the death of Stanislav Tomáš could be a key verdict for the protection of the rights of Roma in the Czech Republic. According to him, the court named errors in the police intervention, shortcomings in the subsequent investigation and the state’s failure to investigate a possible racial motive. Matiaško represents the deceased’s sister in cooperation with the European Roma Rights Center and the Human Rights Forum.

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Greece and Settlements

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Greece and Settlements

Two articles in the Greek press on Roma settlements. The first one, descriubes the living conditions of the Roma community in Heraklion which are dire, with as rodents, harmful insects, and inadequate sanitation being reported by residents.

The president of the Roma Association “Elpida” will address these concerns at the upcoming municipal council meeting, advocating for a clean and safe environment for families.

The second one states that the European Court of Human Rights is reviewing a case involving the threatened eviction of Roma community members in Thessaloniki, Greece, without alternative housing provisions.

The case highlights broader issues of housing, forced evictions, and discrimination against Roma communities, emphasizing the need for adequate housing solutions.

The Commissioner for Human Rights, Michael O’Flaherty, argues that the eviction threat violates the right to respect for private and family life, and the case could set a precedent for protecting vulnerable communities from forced evictions.

Czech Republic News Eastern Europe

European Court of Human Rights (ECHR)

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European Court of Human Rights (ECHR)

A Rom died during a police intervention in June 2021 after exhibiting aggressive behavior while under the influence of methamphetamine.

The European Court of Human Rights ruled that the Czech authorities failed to adequately investigate the incident and recognized the presence of unconscious racism in the police’s actions.

The Czech state is ordered to pay compensation to the man’s sister, highlighting ongoing issues of discrimination against the Romani community in the Czech Republic.

Greece News Western Europe

Greece and Evictions

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Greece and Evictions

The Council of Europe Human Rights Commissioner has raised concerns about the eviction risk faced by a Roma community in Greece, highlighting potential human rights violations.

Michael O’Flaherty emphasized that informal Roma settlements can be considered homes under the European Convention on Human Rights, and evictions without alternative housing could infringe on their rights.

The case involves five Roma citizens alleging violations of their rights due to an administrative protocol aimed at evicting them from their long-term settlement, risking their access to essential services and security.

Hungary News Eastern Europe

Legal Aid

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Legal Aid

The Hungarian National Roma Self-Government (MROÖ) has launched a legal aid and information network to support Roma communities, with initial offices in Budapest, Miskolc, and Pécs. MROÖ President Dancs Mihály emphasized the importance of providing legal assistance to Roma individuals facing discrimination and legal issues, marking the initiative as a significant milestone.

The initiative aims to address historical injustices and ensure that Roma communities are not left without support in legal matters, with funding coming from Dancs’s own salary and expenses.

One has to note that this is in parallel to the European Roma Right Centre, located in Budapest, which has been active for decades.

Bulgaria News Eastern Europe

Bulgaria and Roma

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Bulgaria and Roma

Bulgarian Justice Minister Nikolai Naydenov presented the government’s commitment to protecting vulnerable groups’ rights to Council of Europe Commissioner for Human Rights, Michael O’Flaherty, during his visit to Sofia.

Key topics discussed included the rights of elderly individuals in institutions and the rights of Roma people regarding the removal of illegal structures that serve as their homes, in line with European Court of Human Rights practices.

The Bulgarian government has implemented measures such as criminal liability for unlicensed social care homes and has made progress in legal protections against poor conditions in social institutions, as noted by the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe.

News Eastern Europe Slovenia

Slovenia: Verdict

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Slovenia: Verdict

A while back, following a brawl, Aleš Šutar from Novo Mesto died after being punched once by a Rom Samire Šiljić who pleaded guilty to the attack. He was sentenced to six years and three months in prison, which led to outcries that this was totally inapropriate. The judge justified the sentence with the guilty plea and with th efact that a single blow in the face is not murder.

In response to today’s conviction, the President of the Roma Association of Slovenia, Jožek Horvat Muc, assessed that it is right that all such cases, such as the attack on Aleš Šutar from Novo Mesto, also receive a court epilogue.

Italy News Western Europe

Ferraris

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Ferraris

Two Ferraris worth over €200,000 ended up at the center of a complex scam involving changes of ownership and companies linked to the same family, apparently Sinti from the region. This is the case on which the Supreme Court ruled, upholding the seizure of one of the supercars and rejecting the appeal filed by a woman living in the Venice area.

Bulgaria Europe News Eastern Europe

Bulgaria Anti-Roma Rhetoric

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Bulgaria Anti-Roma Rhetoric

The European Court of Human Rights sided with Roma activists and journalists who argued national courts treated racist political rhetoric too narrowly while ignoring its wider impact on an entire minority community.

News Eastern Europe North Macedonia

Condemned!

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Condemned!

North Macedonia’s Commission for Prevention & Protection against Discrimination has issued a decision against Councillor Ljube Temelkov, finding that his call for Roma to be “forbidden from voting” constitutes unlawful harassment.

News Eastern Europe Slovakia

ECHR Verdict

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ECHR Verdict

The police respects the decisions of international judicial authorities. In response to the decision of the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR), according to which the fundamental rights of two complainants were violated during the police intervention in the village of Milhosť in the Košice-okolie district in July 2019. In July 2019, the police detained two sisters in front of a family house in the village after the intervention and subsequently transported them to the police station. According to the complaint, they were subjected to physical violence, verbal insults and inappropriate treatment during their detention and stay at the police station.

Czech Republic News Eastern Europe

Condemnation

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Condemnation

The Regional Court in Ostrava has sentenced a group of three men and one woman, who according to the indictment were led by 23-year-old Enrico Pešta, known as the Roma rapper Hard Rico. He was sentenced to four years in prison for robbery and extortion and must pay two million crowns. Two other defendants were sentenced to five years in prison, and Hard Rico’s former girlfriend was sentenced to three years in prison.

News Eastern Europe Slovakia

Slovakia and Strasbourg

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Slovakia and Strasbourg

The European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) in the case of Slovak women Katarína Kuruová and Helena Horváthová against the Slovak Republic ordered the Slovak Republic to pay a total of 28,560 euros. The reason is the violation of Article 3 of the European Convention on Human Rights on the prohibition of torture and Article 14 on the prohibition of discrimination.

This case concerns an incident between the two applicants – two Romnja sisters – and the police, which took place on 23 July 2019. On that day, the police detained the women in the village of Milhosť in eastern Slovakia and took them to the police station in the village of Čaňa, where they remained until the early hours of the following morning. They were not questioned during their detention and, according to the ECHR judgment, were described in the detention records as a “gang of local Romani women”.

In their application, the applicants allege violence by the police, which they described as “unjustified, disproportionate and based on bias against them”. They say the investigation into the use of such force was not thorough and independent.

News Eastern Europe Slovakia

Slovakia Condemned

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Slovakia Condemned

The European Court of Human Rights has ruled that the beating of two Romani sisters by Slovak police, their detention in a toilet and cleaning cupboard, and a deeply flawed investigation violated both the prohibition on inhuman treatment (Article 3 of the European Convention on Human Rights) and the prohibition of discrimination (Article 14 of the Convention).

Czech Republic News Eastern Europe

The Roma rapper Hard Rico

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The Roma rapper Hard Rico

The Regional Court in Ostrava heard a case involving a group of four men and one woman, allegedly led by 23-year-old Enrico Pešta, known as the Roma rapper Hard Rico. The members of the group face five to seven years in prison for robbery and extortion. Hard Rico pleaded guilty in the courtroom, the prosecutor is asking for six years in prison for him. The verdict will be handed down in April.

Bad.

Germany News Western Europe

Germany: Judgement

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Germany: Judgement

A blogger with around 52,000 followers posted on Twitter (now X) accusing a “large portion of the Sinti and Roma” of excluding themselves “from civilized society.” She listed accusations including welfare fraud, truancy, theft, littering, and “rental nomadism.”

The Higher Regional Court of Jena clarified that not every discriminatory statement violates human dignity. Describing Sinti and Roma as “rotating Europeans with a property-ownership disability” is grossly tasteless and defamatory—but not incitement to hatred.

France News Western Europe

French Chronicle …

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French Chronicle …

Quite a few articles about two Romanian Roma families who were condemned for having forced their children to beg. Other than that, in Nantes, Roma are voting to try to influence their fate in that city. Finally, in central France, two Serbian and two Romanian Roma were condemned for a series of burglaries.

News Eastern Europe Slovenia

Condemnation

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Condemnation

At the Ljubljana District Court, two Roma, Arsen and Leonardo Novak were sentenced for attacking Ribnica mayor Samo Pogorelc and a policewoman at a firefighter’s party in Ribnica. The former was sentenced to a year and seven months in prison, the latter to a year and three months, according to media reports.

The attack occurred after the mayor had said that he would cut electricity and water to the Roma settlement unless they started to “behave”…

Hungary News Eastern Europe

Géza Buzás-Hábel

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Géza Buzás-Hábel

Géza Buzás-Hábel, a Roma and LGBT+ activist from Pecs, Hungary, has been indicted by the Hungarian justice for having organised a pride march in that city. He risks a year of jail if convicted under the laws banning so-called LGBT+ propaganda to protect the Hungarian youth.

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