Murder defendants Arpad Kiss (left), his younger brother Istvan Kiss (third left), Zsolt Peto (fifth left) and Istvan Csontos (seventh left), all with their backs towards the camera, stand in the courtroom before hearing the verdict at the end of their trial at a court in Budapest.
DPA/Budapest
A court in Hungary has sentenced four men for the racially motivated killings of six ethnic Roma in 2008 and 2009.
Three men were given life without parole after the court found that they planned and committed the murders.
A fourth man, who co-operated with authorities, was sentenced to 13 years in prison. The verdict is not final and the men’s lawyers intend to appeal.
Social Affairs Minister Zoltan Balog welcomed the verdict.
The ruling “encourages us in the belief that no racist criminals can evade the law in Hungary”, said Balog, who is also responsible for Roma issues.
Balog, who was given a commendation by German President Joachim Gauck in May for his work with Roma, expressed his hope that the judgment would be confirmed on appeal.
The four were arrested in August 2009 for armed attacks against Roma family homes on the edge of remote rural settlements that began in July 2008.
According to the indictment, in nine attacks the perpetrators used a total of 78 gun shots and set Roma homes on fire with 11 Molotov cocktails.
Two of the three main perpetrators, who are brothers, admitted to taking part in five of the attacks in which there had been no fatalities. They justified their actions by saying they wanted to scare, not kill, the Roma.
The third main perpetrator consistently refused to speak to authorities.
Their accomplice testified against the three, claiming that he had not known that he had served as a chauffeur for murderers.
Relatives of the victims demanded that the court’s opinion also explicitly identify racism as a motive.
It was not initially clear if this had happened, due to poor acoustics in the courtroom, Hungarian media reported.
Hungarian news agency MTI said the judge mentioned the defendants’ past in the far-right scene as he read the verdict.
The two brothers were removed from the courtroom several times during the reading of the verdict, saying that they did not want to listen to Judge Laszlo Miszori.
Prosecutors believe there is a fifth person who was also responsible.
Hungarian media have speculated that this person was being protected by the country’s intelligence services.
In one of the attacks in Tatarszentgyorgy near Budapest, a five-year-old died together with his father in a hail of bullets. The perpetrators fired on the fleeing family after they had set fire to their house.
The sentence was announced before a large audience. The courtroom was too small for the gathered crowd, leading to isolated scuffles.
Eyewitnesses saw many Roma in the audience, but also right-wing radicals, identified by slogans on their T-shirts.
Hungary’s Roma are among the country’s most disadvantaged citizens, often living in de facto segregation on the edge of villages.