Incidents or WHAT HAS HAPPENED?

This section illustrates the appearance of discrimination on basis of race, ethnicity or nationality, taking real cases. The cases mentioned do not necessarily exactly mirror the actual lawsuits, as they may be simplified for sake of clarity. The discrimination they involve was not always proved in court, and some cases did not reach trial. The cases given are used as examples for thought and contemplation on various forms of discrimination. The real lawsuits with precise description and verdicts can be found in the section Judikatúra (Jurisdiction).

• Discrimination – inconvenience at work

At negotiations of municipal and local representatives, one of the mayors remarked, in reference to a Roma woman also present at the meeting: “All gypsies are genetically predisposed to be stupid.” Other participants interjected that this woman earned a PhD. The mayor reacted and declared: “Some perversion always happens – genetic mutation.” The lady who was also the recipient of these words left the room and refused to come back to the meeting.

• Service for all?

In small town “A” there was a hair salon. When one day a Roma woman came and asked a hairdresser politely for a haircut, the hairdresser reacted like she was so busy with appointments 3 weeks ahead that she can’t accept the new customer now. In reality however, she normally accepted clients without any appointment. Later the hairdresser explained to the present female clients, that in the past she used to serve Roma clients as well but she would loose her whole clientele because of that. Non-Roma customers then refused to sit in the same chair as Roma, use the same brush as Roma, etc. The hairdresser based her argumentation in proclaiming that if a “decent and clean” Roma comes she will accept her.

• Public provision

A group of businessmen raised complaints that a huge state firm in Town B. in the south of Slovakia organizing a government contract automatically excludes and disqualifies businessmen of Roma origin from competition. A firm owned by a Roma businessman has never received orders from the huge state firm even though it offers the best conditions and lowest prices.

• Tender for an intranet administrator

In a bid for an intranet administrator Jozef K., a Roma, applied for the position of an intranet administrator of a local office in Town C. Among other things, a requirement was a university education with a concentration in information technology, which Jozef K. had attained. Therefore he did send an application, CV and recommendations. He was quickly contacted by the local office, accepting him for his brilliant resume and qualifications and asking him to come to the office to sign a contract. When Jozef K. appeared at the office, an assistant mumbled in bewilderment that her boss was gone and that she was not competent to interview him. She sent Jozef K. back home telling him that the office will contact him. Nobody contacted Jozef K. for over a week. Eventually, he decided to call the office and he found out that allegedly there has been a mistake and that the position has been filled some time prior. Later, Jozef K. discovered that the office accepted a non-Roma person to take up the position, who was only a high school graduate.

• Race motivated violence

One late evening, three foreign students of darker skin were walking home from a concert. They were physically assaulted by a few young ‘skinheads’ who had been drinking. The students were beaten mercilessly, while the assailants shouted Nazi slogans. One of the students lost consciousness. Police and ambulance were called by a random witness. All three students found themselves in the hospital with fractures, hemorrhage and head injuries. The police, who came 20 minutes later, administered only a cursory interrogation of the assailants, who were unafraid to linger at the location of incident. The police did not interview or visit the victims (who were in the hospital) at all. Basically, no action has been taken in this case, nor has there been criminal prosecution of the assaulters. The three students filed a complaint about the policemen involved in their case, which has been sent to superior channels and for several months has been unresolved.

• Discrimination at the football match

At a match of two Slovak first league football clubs, there were fans of Club S yelling racist slogans at a dark skin player who was a member of the opposing Club T team. Making sounds “hu-hu-hu”, they tried to imitate a monkey. After criticism from the media, Football Club S publicly condemned their fans’ behavior and indicated it as racist and anti-sport. However, the official fan club of Club S stated to the media that no incident had occured, that the fans were only regularly supporting their team and the racism issue was created by opposing fans.

• Registering permanent residence

In remote villages in eastern Slovakia there are many abandoned houses whose ownership has gone unclaimed since the death of its previous owner. Roma families have tried to buy out some of these houses and settle into their villages, but without success. Mayors refuse to sell the houses to Roma despite the fact that half of each village is growing desolated and the rest is populated by aging inhabitants that are dying out. In the process, the Roma have proven they have enough money for basic reconstruction of the house and tried to persuade the mayor of their probity and willingness to live in the village. The majors started threatening Roma that if they move into the abandoned houses they will never sign them in for permanent residence.
 

Several examples of race motivated violence registered in the year 2007 while monitoring the daily press release:

January:
• Two young man from Bratislava attacked rabbi Myers while calling out Nazi slogans. They were accused of criminally supporting and promoting groups directed towards reducing human rights and freedoms.

March:
• Three Mexicans and a Spaniard were attacked in the town center of Bratislava by a group of approximately 6 ‘skinheads’.
• A 30-year old Nigerian man was attacked. Police proclaim the Nigerian man himself was the assailant.
• A 30-year old African man was beaten by a group of assaulters who also yelled racist slogans at him.
• In Banska Bystrica two Vietnamese people were attacked.
• A young Roma man was robbed and badly injured in Bratislava.

May:
• Early in the morning a group of five men dressed in black wearing masks on their heads broke into the house of a Roma family in Záhorská Ves, while they were sleeping. According to an NGO the attack was race motivated.
• Trnava: An alleged racist assault on a black British man. Assaulters allegedly kicked the foreigner in his head, spit on him, slapped him, poured beer on him and yelled in German, “go back to Africa”. Supposedly they even damaged a taxi door as the foreigner was sitting in it. Later police changed an eyewitness report unfavorably to the victim. Rather than investigating the race motivated criminal act, the police only looked into the misdemeanor the black British man had committed against civic cohabitation. The police stated that the alleged racist attack on the Brit had been incited by himself.

August:
• Detva: Two assaulters attacked a Roma couple walking from a close friend’s funeral. Both victims were sent to the emergency room immediately following the incident. When they wanted to report the attack at an appropriate police station, the responsible policemen refused to engage in the case unless the victims would find the assaulters for them.
• Kysucké Nové Mesto: A rooming house for the poor burned down. The people who lived there accredited the blame to a person who had previously threatened to set the place on fire. The suspicion has been raised that there may have been a racist motive.

October:
• Revúca: Police caught two intruders in a home in the town of Jelšava, who had threatened the owners and disparaged their nationality, race and creed. The investigator accused 18-year-old Ján K. and 20-year-old Dušan K. from the town Revúca who may be sentenced up to 5 years in prison if they plead guilty.

November:
• Bratislava: A group of foreign students, two from Libya and one from Greece, were attacked by 20 ‘skin-head’ men. Police investigated the case, but proclaim the gathered testimonies do not prove a racist motive. The victims lost consciousness during the attack and they were heard by the police in the hospital. The police officials say there is no evidence that the assailants were connected to any right-wing extremist group.
• Šaľa: Two high school teenagers beat a Roma teenager. According to police, the attack was not based on ethnic origin. Moreover, the 17-year-old Roma allegedly provoked the conflict himself. However, his relatives maintain that the young men’s racism was at the core of their attack. The two teenagers confessed to committing the assault at the bus stop where they used a guard dog and teargas to harm the Roma teenager. He suffered a head injury.
• Košice: A 16-year old girl of Cuban origin was brutally beaten. Police arrested two suspicious men two days later. Both men from Košice were accused of the attempt to cause harm and supporting and promoting groups working against basic human rights and freedoms. In December, the senate of the regional court of Košice decided that both offenders of the racist assault remain in detention.

December:
• Police caught a 21-year old young man suspicious of a race-motivated attack on a Roma in November. They suggested that the man is a leader of an extremist group from Kysuce and he is accused of incitement to race, national and ethnic hatred.
• Martin: Police accused two young men from Martin, who threatened a 30-year old Roma woman in November. The two men, age 19 and 20, were accused of racial slander, violating house privacy freedom, and verbal threat, and they face up to 5 years in prison. Though recommended by prosecution that they be taken into custody, the judge decided to set them free.
• Žilina: A 25-year old man attacked a black-skinned man in a roadhouse. He faces charges of racial slander and disorderly conduct.