Czech Police request European arrest warrant for assailant of young Romani man
An 18-year-old foreign national who groundlessly assaulted a 20-year-old Romani man in Rýmařov in the Bruntál area of the Czech Republic on 13 October has fled abroad. The police investigation of the incident has determined this development.
As news server Romea.cz previously reported, the Romani man was hospitalized after the attack. The mayor of Rýmařov and the police are communicating intensively with the family of the victim and other members of the Romani community there.
Czech Government Commissioner for Romani Minority Affairs Lucie Fuková is also following the Rýmařov situation. “Police, as part of their search for the 18-year-old suspect, have determined through their colleagues in the Department of International Relations that he should be abroad. We have filed a motion with the prosecutor for a European arrest warrant,” police press spokesperson Pavla Jiroušková told news server Romea.cz.
A European arrest warrant is a decision issued by a court of an EU Member State. Its aim is to arrest and extradite persons wanted for the purpose of criminal prosecution or for serving a sentence.
The order applies throughout the EU and replaced the previously protracted extradition proceedings which used to exist between the EU Member States. Jiroušková previously refuted rumors that the victim was assaulted by more than one person and clarified that just one foreign national was involved.
Romani community members in Rýmařov believe that the attacker was Ukrainian. “This attack did not involve multiple persons, but was an altercation between just two men aged 18 and 20,” Jiroušková said on 16 October.
Czech Govt. Commissioner for Roma Minority Affairs and town leadership are addressing the situation in Rýmařov
Czech Government Commissioner for Roma Minority Affairs Lucie Fuková immediately started reviewing the situation in Rýmař and recommended the municipality hold a meeting with local Roma. “I am sorry about what has happened in Rýmařov and I hope this young Romani man gets well soon,” said Fuková, who is in contact with the representatives of the crucial institutions which are working on Romani integration in the region.
“There is an agreement to communicate regularly and to share information between the Romani community, the town and the police,” Fuková told Romea.cz. The leadership of Rýmařov is also intensively involved with the situation.
The mayor has met with the family of the young man who was assaulted in order to calm the exacerbated situation. “We have been monitoring the situation as a whole from the beginning and we are addressing it in collaboration with the Czech Police and the family of the victim,” said Mayor Luděk Šimko in a statement published to the town’s official website.
“The family of the man who was assaulted have my sympathy and I hope he gets well soon. Police have assured me they will take all possible steps to apprehend the perpetrator. In response to the spread of concerns on social media about safety in our town, I would like to assure the citizens that they are not in danger,” the mayor’s statement reads.
