Czech Supreme Court increases compensation awarded to more Romani tenants forcibly evicted into inhumane conditions in 2006
The Czech Supreme Court (Nejvyšší soud - NS) has increased the amount of compensation awarded to yet another Romani family forcibly relocated away from the town of Vsetín in 2006 by representatives of the municipality. The judgment follows three similar ones in the same case from the end of last year.
The family members were each originally awarded compensation from the town ranging from CZK 5000 – CZK 20,000 [EUR 200 – EUR 800] and have now been awarded compensation ranging from CZK 20,000 – CZK 40,000 {EUR 800 – EUR 1,600]. The increase affects plaintiffs who were minors at the time of the relocation and who should not have been blamed for the fact that their adult family members did not address their problems with the Vsetín municipality in its role as their landlord.
The judgment has been temporarily posted to the local official notice board. Vsetín evicted the Romani families from a particular property during the mayorship of Jiří Čunek (Christian Democrats – KDU-ČSL), who is currently holding that office again in addition to being a senator.
The building from which the Romani families were evicted was in a poor state of repair and was subsequently demolished by the town. Some of the tenants residing at the property were rent defaulters, including the adult family members who were plaintiffs in this most recent case.
The forcibly evicted Romani tenants ended up living either in apartment units elsewhere in Vsetín made out of repurposed shipping containers or in old houses located in completely different administrative regions. According to the NS, Vsetín’s aim was to resolve its financial problem with the tenants, not to resolve the tenants’ housing problems.
The family involved in this most recent judgment was forcibly evicted by the town and then forced to take up residence in the Jeseníky district near the Polish border in the village of Stará Červená Voda, which is roughly 170 km from Vsetín. Prior to relocating they had only seen the house in photographs and the town forced them into signing a loan for its purchase.
When the family arrived at the location, they refused to move into the house because of its poor state of repair. Representatives of Vsetín municipality, however, unloaded the family’s personal effects from the moving van and drove away, according to the judgment.
The house was in such poor shape that it was not fit for human habitation and required extensive repairs. The judgment mentions it was damp, had a leaky roof and warped ceiling, lacked plaster on the walls, smelled bad and was infested with mold.
The water available from a nearby well was toxic and drinking it led the family to experience digestive difficulties. The family was not accepted by their neighbors, who called them “Čunek’s children”.
The house then ended up being auctioned off as part of a collections proceeding against the family later that same year. According to the new judgment, the town of Vsetín basically manoeuvred the family into accepting a solution prepared for them that worsened their already precarious situation.
In their appeal, the family said the compensation previously awarded to them was too low, that the representatives of Vsetín had contributed to disseminating anti-Romani sentiment by engineering their relocation in the way they did, and that the town has never expressed regret for causing them harm. The NS ruled that the non-payment of rent in Vsetín and the inability to resolve the family’s situation should be attributed to the adult family members but not to the minor ones.
The loss of their social contacts as a consequence of their forced relocation, according to the NS, was the most tangible for the older children. “For that reason, it is appropriate to increase the compensation given the age of these plaintiffs such that the older ones receive more compensation than the younger ones,” the NS said.
The NS published three other similar judgments in related cases at the end of last year. The court has increased the compensation awarded to the Romani families who were forced by Vsetín to move into Dřevnovice in the Prostějov district and to Vidnava and Vlčice in the Jeseníky district.
Čunek has announced that the town will probably appeal to the Constitutional Court in all of these cases. The town’s previous appeals have not been successful.
