He was sniffing toluene, so they set him on fire

The four young men did not know 26-year-old Jan Tóth when they brutally attacked him this past May behind the Centrum department store in Hodonín. They say the Rom was sniffing toluene and they don’t like drug addicts.

They punched him, kicked him and beat him with a metal truncheon, but their "aversion therapy" didn’t end there. They finished the job by dousing the drug addict with toluene and setting him on fire.

The violent offenders, who range in age from 18 to 20 years old and whom witnesses and investigators claim are neo-Nazis, then went back to the local pizzeria, where they had spent the afternoon drinking. After several long minutes someone called an ambulance and started to put out the fire. The victim died five days after the attack.

"The man suffered second, third and fourth degree burns on his head, abdomen, and upper and lower limbs. This caused scorching of the air passages and swelling of the lungs. He died as a result of multiple organ failure," state prosecutor Milan Richter told the Regional Court in Brno, which began to review the appalling case yesterday.

Describing the victim’s ordeal, the prosecutor said, "The injured party suffered pain for several minutes before the ambulance arrived."
The one who pulled out the lighter may receive extraordinary sentencing.

All four men charged with the crime were present in the courtroom for the prosecutor’s speech yesterday. The main perpetrator, 20-year-old Juraj Lukáš, is charged with murder and disorderly conduct. He traveled to the court directly from custody in handcuffs. It was he who pulled out the lighter and set Tóth on fire. The other three, 18-year-olds Michael Iš and Michal Vala and 20-year-old Martin Martinusík, were released on their own recognizance. Martinusík and Iš are charged with beating and kicking the Romani victim, Vala with pouring the toluene. None of the three are being charged with murder, only with disorderly conduct.
While Lukáš faces 12 – 15 years in prison and the possibility of extraordinary sentencing, the others face only two years behind bars. According to their testimonies, the others tried to discourage Lukáš from setting the victim on fire. However, the prosecutor has not ruled out the possibility of also charging the youths with battery.
After their testimonies yesterday the trio returned to their homes, while Lukáš remains in police custody.

"Why do you have a photograph of Hitler in your mobile phone?"

The courtroom was under extra guard yesterday. Seven armed bailiffs were on duty for the length of the hearing, and others, including dog handlers, were on hand during the prisoner escort and then guarded the room from outside. There were concerns that there would be clashes between the friends of those charged and the bereaved of the Romani victim. The four short-haired violent offenders denied that their attack had a racial subtext, even though it was preceded by the call that a ‘drugged-out Gypsy’ was lying on the ground behind the pizzeria. Some of the attackers admitted yesterday to having supported the neo-Nazis in the past.

"I don’t have anything against the Roma, but drug addicts bother me. I used to sympathise with the skinheads, but not anymore," Juraj Lukáš claimed yesterday. When asked by the judge why he had photos of Adolf Hitler in his mobile phone, he was unable to answer.