Brno, Czech Republic: Prosecutor indicts Ukrainian citizen for bodily harm and murder, he faces 18 years in prison if convicted

The 37-year-old foreign national faces up to 18 years in prison if convicted. The Regional Prosecutor in Brno announced the news on its website through its spokesperson, Hynek Olma.

Prosecutors filed the indictment with the Regional Court in Brno. According to the indictment, the foreign national used a knife when assaulting and harming three people near a tram stop, all of whom were then hospitalized as a result.

One victim later passed away in hospital. The person who died was a young Romani man.

Soon after the death of the youth, some Romani community members started spreading hate against Ukrainians, and Brno saw unrest over the 10 June incident. “At approximately 19:40 on the asphalted sidewalk connecting the public transit stop called Přístaviště and Přístavní Street in Brno, during a mutual altercation with three young men, the perpetrator assaulted them using his own knife, causing fatal injuries to one and bodily harm to the other two through the stab wounds he inflicted,” Olma described.

The behavior of the accused has been qualified as felony murder under Section 140 para. 1 Penal Code and as bodily harm under Section 146 para. 1 Penal Code. The foreign national was initially taken into custody but was then released on his own recognizance.

The Brno Municipal Court first decided to release the suspect from custody in July, but the prosecutor filed a complaint against that decision. The Regional Court then ruled to uphold the first-instance court decision in August.

According to the Municipal Court opinion, the material conditions for keeping the suspect in custody were very weak. The accused was allowed to make a written promise not to flee and was placed under supervision of a probation officer.

“The reasons for custody persist but have weakened,” court spokesperson Petra Láníčková said at the time. The judge, according to her, had doubts about whether the charges should be for murder.

“The judge deciding the preliminary custody proceedings did not identify with the legal qualification on the basis of which the prosecution of the accused was begun,” Láníčková said. However, such a judge is never authorized to re-categorize a criminal charge, as the criminal justice bodies during the preliminary proceedings are the only ones authorized to do so.

The June incident in Brno intensified the anti-Ukrainian mood of some Romani people in the Czech Republic. A great deal of disinformation was then disseminated on social media alleging other Ukrainians had assaulted Romani people, accounts which were refuted by police but which sparked emotions.

Many Romani figures condemned the anti-Ukrainian events which were held, warned against applying collective guilt, and called for balanced reporting and for people to verify what they read online. Czech Government Commissioner for Roma Minority Affairs Lucie Fuková and Czech Government Human Rights Commissioner Klára Šimáčková Laurenčíková involved themselves in the case.

Local authorities across the country can take advantage of the recently-released “10 Recommendations for Crisis Communications” to calm any future tensions or unrest in towns and villages. The guide to how to inform the public about such situations was created by an expert group on calming and preventing bias crime that was formed this summer in response to some Romani people organizing anti-Ukrainian public events.