Civil society members of Czech Govt Roma Council sharply distance themselves from Interior Minister and PM's remarks about case in which Romani man died after police intervention

The civil society members of the Czech Government Council for Romani Minority Affairs have sharply distanced themseles from the recent statements by Czech Prime Minister Andrej Babiš and Czech Interior Minister Jan Hamáček, who are also members of the advisory body. The PM chairs the Council.   

According to the volunteer civil society members, the Interior Minister and PM are undermining faith in the impartiality of the investigation of Saturday’s incident. News server Romea.cz is publishing the statement by the volunteer civil society members in full translation here.  

Statement by the civil society members of the Czech Government Council for Romani Minority Affairs

The civil society members of the Council consider the recent remarks by the Prime Minister and chair of the Czech Government Council for Romani Minority Affairs, Andrej Babiš, and Czech Interior Minister Jan Hamáček to be quite unfortunate. It is not our aim to discuss what their motivations might be. It is not, however, acceptable for the loss of a human life to be accompanied by undignified behavior, which at a minimum has been shown in their approaches to this issue where, without taking into account the final outcome of the investigation, these particular members of the Council have attributed no seriousness to the calls of the other members of the Council and from the public asking for a consistent, credible investigation of the cause of death in the case of Mr Tomáš.  

We sharply distance ourselves from the remarks of Mr Andrej Babiš and Mr Jan Hamáček praising the work of the police in Teplice, remarks made at a time when no findings of the ongoing investigation into the tragic events in Teplice have been published.   

We appreciate the work of the Police of the Czech Republic and we believe the investigation of this tragic event will not be influenced by the will of politicians who, through their remarks, undermine faith in the impartiality of the investigation, unfortunate remarks that show they have assessed the calls of the civil society members of the Council regarding this issue to be unjustified. At the same time, we consider it appropriate, given the tense situation, for Mr Babiš and Mr Hamáček to make sure they will be present for the Council meeting on 30 June 2021 and that they use that occasion to guarantee the investigation will be independent and its findings will lead to calming the situation and renewing trust.   

Zdeněk Guži
Jan Husák
Alena Drbohlavová Gronzíková
Alica Sigmund Heráková
Tomáš Ščuka
Josef Stojka
Štefan Oláh
Vladislav Čermák
Gwendolyn Albert