Edita Stejskalová: This was a crime against humanity, none of those who committed arson in 2009 deserve leniency
In my opinion, the decision by the court in Šumperk to release some of the Vítkov arsonists is based just on assessing their behavior while in prison. That kind of assessment does not correspond to the gravity of the crime they committed not just against this particular family, but against all of society.
I believe the court’s decision is incompetent and therefore unjust. A decision of this kind is an affront to the principles of democracy and the rule of law, since the court has paid either no attention or almost no attention to the essence of the crime the arsonists committed.
Such a decision is a very dangerous precedent for assessing crimes motivated by hatred of somebody’s “race”. In my view, the court failed to assess the danger to society and the especially repugnant motivation of the arsonists who attacked this family.
The assailants were members of a neo-Nazi movement. They planned their attack.
They carefully chose their victims on the basis of their Romani ethnicity. They also carefully chose the date of their attack.
By murdering this family, they wanted to celebrate the birth of Hitler. Their crime is against humanity.
This crime was especially disgraceful, mean and cowardly. They attacked the family in their sleep, when their chances of saving their lives and their children above all were absolutely minimal.
The assailants had to have assumed there would be children in the house. Last but not least, they wanted, by murdering a Romani family, to gain visibility and promote the most brutal, criminal ideology in the history of humanity.
In that light, the arguments of the defense attorney and the court for releasing the arsonists seem weak to me. I believe the court decision to release the arsonists essentially contravenes good morals as well as international law on eliminating all forms and manifestations of racial discrimination.
I am convinced that this case was a crime against humanity. Personally I would never grant any of them conditional release.
The challenge before us is how, as civil society, can we cope with such a decision? How can we reform the system through our work so there will be justice for all?
We must never forget what happened to Natálka and her family!
