Serbia: Dead Romani youth found in Bečej, racial motivation not yet ruled out

In the early morning hours of Sunday, 17 March 2013, a dead
17-year-old Romani boy was found in the Serbian town of Bečej. The
circumstances of his death are unclear and it is possible he was the
victim of a racially motivated attack.

Police have qualified the boy’s death as suspicious. The Serbian daily
Blic reported several days later that he had been kicked to death by
four skinheads and that the attack could have been intentional and
motivated by his ethnicity. 

Blic reported that the boy had been brutally beaten and lost
consciousness in a pool of water. Other media reports said an autopsy
showed the cause of death was drowning. A 14-year-old ethnic Hungarian
boy has reportedly been arrested in connection with the attack.

On Thursday, 21 March 2013 another such incident took place in eastern
Serbia. A group of masked youths attacked.a group of Romani people in a
Romani settlement.

According to unconfirmed reports, that incident
occurred the day after a Romani person may have attacked an ethnic
Serb. Police have arrested 10 people and charged them with committing
felony violent behavior. The European Roma Rights Centre (ERRC) has
called on the Serbian criminal justice authorities to thoroughly
investigate both cases for possible racial motivation.