ERRC letter to the Minister of Internal Affairs of Serbia
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From: MINELRES modertaor <[email protected]>
Date: Tue, 2 Nov 1999 08:47:39 +0200 (EET)
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Subject: ERRC letter to the Minister of Internal Affairs of Serbia
From: MINELRES moderator <[email protected]>
Original sender: European Roma Rights Center <[email protected]>
ERRC letter to the Minister of Internal Affairs of Serbia
On October 28, 1999, the European Roma Rights Center, an international
public interest law organisation which monitors the rights of Roma and
provides legal defence in cases of human rights abuse, sent a letter
to Mr Vlajko Stojiljkovic, Minister of Internal Affairs of the
Republic of Serbia expressing concern over the inadequate police
investigation of a recent skinhead attack against Roma in Belgrade,
Yugoslavia. The text of the letter is as follows:
Dear Mr Minister,
The European Roma Rights Center (ERRC), an international public
interest law organisation which monitors the rights of Roma and
provides legal defence in cases of human rights abuse, is alarmed at
reports of inadequate police investigation of a case of a recent
skinhead attack against Roma in Belgrade, Yugoslavia.
The victim, Ms Vesna Ackovi=E6, a Romani teacher at a primary school
in Kaludjerica, Belgrade, told the ERRC that she was leaving the
school building at approximately 8:10 PM on October 21, when she
suddenly felt a punch in the back and fell to the ground. The
attacker, a young man whose face she could not see as he wore a hood,
ran away immediately. While colleagues of Ms Ackovi=E6 were helping
her get up, a group of skinheads standing nearby verbally abused her
and insulted her ethnicity.
Ms Ackovi=E6 went back into the school building and reported the
incident to school authorities, who immediately called the police.
Even though the nearest police station is very close to the school
building, a police patrol reportedly arrived on the spot only after an
hour. Upon arrival, the police told Ms Ackovi=E6 that they had caught
three skinheads in the schoolyard, and asked her to identify the
attacker, which she was unable to do, as she had not seen his face.
The following day, her husband, Mr Dragoljub Ackovi=E6, a prominent
Romani intellectual and president of the Roma Congress Party,
contacted the local police station to get information on the
development of the case. Police reportedly told him that, according to
the testimony on record, his wife was only "pushed" in the back. Also,
police reportedly told Mr Ackovi=E6 that they had no record of either
a group of skinheads or racist abuse in the written statement of Ms
Ackovi=E6. When Ms Ackovi=E6 requested to see the written transcript
of her testimony, police allegedly refused.
On Saturday, October 23, the Belgrade daily Blic reported that
Belgrade police had stated that they had identified 16-year-old P.P.
as the attacker. According to the police statement, Ms Ackovi=E6 was
pushed accidentally in a crowded schoolyard, by a student of the
school running out to catch a bus. In the statement, police insisted
that P.P. was not a skinhead, denied racial motivation in the attack,
and they accused Ms Ackovi=E6 of "sensationalism".
According to Ms Ackovi=E6, the attacker is not a student of the
school, as he graduated from the school in 1998. According to
witnesses, when the attack took place the schoolyard was nearly empty,
and not "crowded", as in the police statement.
The harassment of Ms Ackovi=E6 has continued. According to Ms
Ackovi=E6, in the evening of October 25, she was again verbally abused
by a group of three skinheads on her way back from school.
The ERRC field research in Serbia has documented numerous skinhead
attacks against Roma, the most publicised case being the killing of
fourteen-year-old Dusan Jovanovic in October 1997. In most cases, the
authorities have attempted to marginalise the extent and the nature of
racially motivated attacks, and most attacks remain without adequate
legal remedy. In the present case the police are denying racial
motivation and clearly attempting to downplay the public danger of the
attack.
We urge your office, Mr. Minister, to ensure that the attack on Ms
Ackovi=E6, as well as all other reported racially motivated attacks,
are thoroughly investigated and perpetrators prosecuted to the fullest
extent of the law.
Yours sincerely,
Dimitrina Petrova
Executive Director
*****************
The European Roma Rights Center is an international public interest
law organisation which monitors the rights of Roma and provides legal
defence in cases of human rights abuse. For more information about the
European Roma Rights Center, visit the ERRC on the web at
http://errc.org.=20
European Roma Rights Center
H-1525 Budapest 114
PO Box 10/24
Hungary
Telephone: (36 1) 42 82 351
Fax: (36 1) 42 82 356
*****************
SUPPORT THE ERRC!
The European Roma Rights Center is dependent upon the generosity of
individual donors for its continued existence. If you believe the ERRC
performs a service valuable to the public, please join in enabling its
future with a contribution. Gifts of all sizes are welcome; bank
tranfers are preferred. Please send your contribution to:
European Roma Rights Center
Budapest Bank Rt.
99P00402686
1054 Budapest
Bathory utca 1
Hungary
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