Czech Republic: Trial begins of Roma man's death at the hands of police

Unlike other trials attended by this reporter, this time all the journalists
stayed in the courtroom until the performance was over. They were enthusiastic
about the plot of this new "thriller" and the mysterious grimacing of District
Court Milan Tomeš, who was somewhat reminiscent of Robert De Niro in his dark
glasses.

The press was also enraptured by the fact that one of the defendants, convinced
of his innocence, had described in detail how he and his colleague had slowly
brutalized a defenseless, handcuffed person. The press were certainly also
impressed by how a desperate woman had inadvertently ordered the death-by-cop of
her beloved boyfriend, the father of her three young children.

A police training instructor who openly declared that the best way to handle an
uncooperative suspect is to pacify him "by any and every means" also made quite
an impression. Thus began the main trial yesterday before the District Court in
Sokolov in the matter of the violent death of Ľudovít Kašpar in the town of
Kynšperk nad Ohří.

News server Romea.cz has

previously reported on this case. After it was investigated by the
Inspector-General of the Security Forces, police force members Pavel H. and
Vítězslav N. were brought to trial.

Regional –level state attorney Irena Kondrová has charged them with negligent
homicide. If convicted, they face between one and six years in prison.

Kondrová opened the trial by reading the indictment. The defendants are
considered responsible for performing an intervention while on duty “even though
they had never been schooled or trained in the procedures they elected to use”,
which involved pushing Kašpar to the ground on his belly, handcuffing his wrists
behind his back, and then each officer “hooking the points of their collapsible
truncheons between his arms and his ribcage in such way that they could apply
their own weight at the ends, i.e., on the handles of the truncheons, so that
the points of both truncheons were pointing towards and pressing against the
victim’s ribcage”, which resulted in the officers “limiting and restraining the
victim’s breathing, which led to his suffocation and, as a result of the
protracted force against his chest, to the subsequent swelling of his brain,
which led to his death.”

The judge then asked defendant Pavel H. where he works today in order to verify
his current status. The terse reply was “for the Police of the Czech Republic”.

“Are you telling me you are still on active duty?” the judge asked. Ordinarily
(as has been confirmed by European Court judgments) police force members charged
with far less serious crimes are at least suspended during trial.

In the Karlovy Vary Region, where former Police President Oldřich Tomášek is now
in charge, this evidently is not the case. (By the way, Tomášek lost his
driver’s license two years ago after driving 100 km per hour in a 50 km zone).

The defendant next told the court that he and his colleague had received a
report from their dispatcher sometime before midnight about “a Gypsy” who was
“assaulting people” in the vicinity of the footbridge over the Ohře River. It
was there that they found Kašpar, whom they considered to be a brawler, gambler,
and violent thug (his family and friends do not share that opinion).

“[Kašpar] even jumped in front of someone’s car once,” officer Pavel H.
complained to the court. When asked by the judge how he had identified the
alleged perpetrator of the reported assault, Pavel H. said that he and his
fellow officer knew Kašpar and that he “was the only Gypsy around.”

In fact, Kašpar was actually alone at the scene when the officers arrived. There
was no one there for him to attack or threaten, and he was just reportedly
spouting nonsense while in what seemed to be a drunken state.

According to the second defendant, police officer Vítězslav N., a liquid shot of
tear gas called a “Tornado” is a wonderful thing to use in such a situation.
This technology can immobilize a person at a distance of four meters and force
him to “cooperate”.

That is reportedly why Vítězslav N. shot Kašpar with a dose of Tornado directly
in the face – but allegedly it didn’t help at all, as Kašpar continued to stand
there “as if chained to the ground.” The officers then chose to use another
means of shocking Kašpar, their metal collapsible truncheons, with which one can
strike someone “in the neck, for example”, as the defendant proudly
communicated.

Vítězslav N. also claimed that Kašpar had usually always obeyed police orders in
the past. He then testified that he and his colleague ultimately managed to get
Kašpar down on the ground, where they handcuffed him.

However, when Kašpar didn’t stop kicking even in that position, there was
allegedly nothing else to do but to “lock him down for a couple of minutes.” 
The officers’ descriptions of their helplessness in the face of this
“unmanageable” person corroborated each other’s testimony.

However, they were unable to explain to the judge why it never occurred to them
to call for backup. Another police patrol from nearby Sokolov could have been at
the scene in 10 minutes, and even “riot cops” from the emergency response units
usually come to the aid of fellow officers when called.

As Pavel H. testified, they called an ambulance instead so paramedics could
tranquilize their victim by injection. By the time the ambulance arrived,
however, the victim had not had a pulse for some time, and he died two days
later in hospital in Sokolov.

The defendants testified that their aim had been to pacify Kašpar and then take
him “either to the drunk tank or to a police cell”, but they reportedly never
agreed on a destination. What they did agree on was the infliction of maximum
pain on the alleged assailant.

The officers never considered whether there was another way to calm the suspect,
since all he was doing was acting strangely by the time they found him.
Evidently this is the routine method of these officers, as could be testified to
by many Romani residents of Kynšperk nad Ohří if they weren’t afraid of ending
up like Kašpar.

Here I cannot help but remark that torture has not been a standard police
practice since the Middle Ages. As for the other witnesses for the defense, they
did not make a good impression in court with respect to their credibility.

According to the police, on the day of the incident the witnesses had been
drinking late in the evening at the Jewish cemetery and had then moved to a
bench near the footbridge, where they continued drinking. Witness Leoš N. told
the court that Kašpar had suddenly arrived and “drank a whole box of our wine”,
allegedly an entire liter.

Reportedly no words were exchanged between them. The witness was unable to
explain why no trace of alcohol was subsequently found in Kašpar’s blood.

Leoš N. also testified that he saw Kašpar assault a woman. During the
preliminary proceedings, however, the woman in question testified to the court
that Kašpar never touched her, but that her dog had barked at him and Kašpar had
just vulgarly cursed the dog.

The woman already knew Kašpar and said he was a nice person who had even stood
up for her once at a discotheque when someone was actually planning to attack
her. She testified that Kašpar had told her assailant to stop “or he would kill
him”, which immediately put an end to the conflict. 

Leoš N. then asked to correct the protocol of his interrogation during the
preliminary proceedings before the Inspector-General. His initial testimony had
been that when he saw the police officers kneeling on Kašpar, he asked them what
was wrong with him, and they responded that he was asleep.

Now the witness wanted to say that Kašpar had “evidently been defending
himself”, a significant change compared to his previous testimony. As for Jakub
S., who had been drinking on the bench with Leoš N. that evening, he is a local
homeless person.

When the judge saw on his video monitor that Jakub S. was starting to cause
trouble out in the hallway, he sent the bailiff to measure his blood alcohol
level. The bailiff returned with a reading of 2.42, and the judge said a witness
in that state could not be interrogated and instructed the bailiff to remove
him.

Testimony was then given by two police training instructors from Sokolov, who
said that while they had never heard of the technique used by the defendants to
pacify their suspect, they saw “no reason not to use it”, as trainer Daniel
Krhut put it. Inspector Jan Sebjan kept saying that police should “efficiently,
forcefully, rapidly” complete an intervention “by any and every means”, mainly
when those attacking have the advantage – but he did not take into account the
fact that Kašpar had acted alone, that officer Pavel H. was both heavier and
taller than his victim, and that neither officer sought medical attention after
their intervention. 

The first day of the main hearing, therefore, can be summarized as follows: The
police officers excused their behavior by saying the common-law wife of the
deceased had called them more than once when Kašpar had caused her minor
injuries. Why is she complaining about their intervention now?

The partner of the deceased testified that it had always been enough for police
just to talk to Kašpar. Reportedly he would behave himself after that.

As for the eyewitnesses, they either cannot properly remember what happened or
were not even present for the main event. This was the conclusion to Act One of
this “engrossing thriller” taken from Czech reality.

Act Two will continue on Monday, 24 February at 8:30 AM. Those interested in
watching it “live” can come to the District Court in Sokolov, K.H. Borovského
57, Room 228.

Expert witnesses are scheduled to testify, including a police figure who was
almost choked to death during a trial run of the technique used by the officers
during their intervention against Kašpar. Expert witnesses from the Institute of
Forensic Medicine at the Královské Vinohrady Teaching Hospital in Prague will
also testify; it was their evaluations of the evidence that have already
achieved a major reversal in this case, just as they did in the case of the
death of Milan Lacko, the Romani man from Orlov who died after being assaulted
by a neo-Nazi in 1998.