Czech Interior Minister: Victims can ask for aid if they feel threatened by arsonists' parole, but police protection not automatic
The Romani family who were victimized in 2009 by racially-motivated arson in Vítkov, Czech Republic do not have an automatic entitlement to police protection in association with the parole of two perpetrators of that attack. A way has reportedly been found for them to request support should they feel threatened.
Czech Interior Minister Vít Rakušan (Mayors and Independents – STAN) tweeted that information on the day of the arsonists’ release, 16 May. Four men were convicted of the racially motivated attack on a single-family house inhabited by Romani people 14 years ago.
Perpetrators Václav Cojocaru and Ivo Müller were conditionally released from prison on 16 May. The four neo-Nazis attacked the Romani family in the late night hours of 19 April 2009 by throwing Molotov cocktails through their windows.
The house caught fire immediately. Three people were harmed, and the most serious injuries were suffered by a child who was not yet two years old.
Natálka suffered burns over 80 % of her body and lost three fingers as a result of the attack. According to expert witnesses, all four convicts were active neo-Nazis in North Moravia who had succumbed to the ideology of neo-Nazism.
In its verdict, the court referenced the fact that the four apparently organized the entire action to mark Adolf Hitler’s birthday. Cojocaru and Müller were sentenced to 20 years in prison for multiple counts of racially-motivated attempted murder.
On the morning of 16 May, both were paroled after having served two-thirds of their sentences. “By law we are unable to automatically provide police protection to the family of Natálka in association with the release of the arsonists,” the Interior Minister tweeted on that same day.
The minister added that he, the Police President, and Czech Government Human Rights Commissioner Klára Šimáčková Laurenčíková have managed to find a way for the family to request support in case they feel threatened. Police representatives already met with the family several days ago, according to the minister.
The other two people convicted of the arson are still in prison. Jaromír Lukeš and David Vaculík got 22 years, and two-thirds of their sentences will have been served once they have been behind bars for 14.5 years, including the time they have been in custody since August 2009.
