Markus Pape, representative of the family of burn victim Natálka: The Czech state should provide more support to families in difficult psychological situations
According to Markus Pape, one of the representatives of the Romani family who were attacked by four neo-Nazis throwing Molotov cocktails in 2009, neither he, nor any of the family's other representatives, nor the family members themselves were able to influence the court's decision to conditionally release two of the perpetrators of that arson. In an interview for ROMEA TV, Pape said he believes the responsible state institutions should be providing more support to the family of burn victim Natálka, who is currently in a difficult psychological situation.
Pape recalled that the court originally sentenced three of the neo-Nazis to 22-year sentences and just one to 20 years without the possibility of parole. However, the High Court in Olomouc changed that in March 2011, lowering Ivo Müller’s sentence to 20 years.
That same court also gave all four neo-Nazis the chance of parole after serving two-thirds of their sentences. Václav Cojocaru and Ivo Müller took advantage of that and the court approved it yesterday.
“However, according to the applicable laws, the injured family has no legal opportunity to speak about their early release or to express themselves in any way. The injured parties are excluded from deciding on early release, it purely concerns just the convicts,” Pape told ROMEA TV.
“We, as representatives of the injured party, have no opportunity to influence this decision. We can just do our best to communicate the information to the family,” Pape said.
“I can confirm that the mediation services visited the family in person, explained the situation to them, and informed them that such a proceedings was underway,” Pape explained, adding that the family did not want the released assailants to come anywhere near their residence. In his view, the problem is that the family currently feels defenseless and the news coverage makes the situation even harder to bear.
“We have done our best, from the beginning, to provide and facilitate psychological aid for them, such assistance was provided by Přemysl Mikuláš, who regularly visited them, supported by Petr Pöthe, a child psychologist from Prague, as well as Fedor Gál. Already at that time we waited in vain for help from the state. At this moment I would like the state institutions to make more of an effort to provide the family in this acute situation with psychological aid, mainly that they hear what the family is feeling, how they are feeling, and advise them as to what they can do right now so the children will better comprehend the situation and what is happening,” Pape said, adding that such assistance from the state is not coming.
Four people were convicted in the case. While Cojocaru and Müller got away with 20-year sentences and expressed regret for their actions before the appellate court, their accomplices, Jaromír Lukeš and David Vaculík, got 22 years in prison – so two-thirds of their sentences will be done once they have been behind bars for 14.5 years.
The four have been in custody since August 2009, and that time also counts against their sentencing, which means the other two convicts could apply for early release during the first half of next year at the very earliest. The perpetrators attacked the single-family home occupied by a large Romani family on the night of 19 April 2009 by throwing Molotov Cocktails through the windows.
The house caught fire immediately. Three people were injured, and Natálie, who was not yet two years old at the time, was the most seriously harmed.
The child suffered burns over 80 % of her body and lost three fingers. According to experts, all four of the convicts were active neo-Nazis in North Moravia who had succumbed to the ideology of neo-Nazism; in the original verdict, the court referenced the fact that the entire action had apparently been organized to honor Adolf Hitler’s birthday.
