Identifier
Created
Classification
Origin
09BUDAPEST168
2009-03-03 14:53:00
CONFIDENTIAL
Embassy Budapest
Cable title:  

NEW VIOLENCE AGAINST ROMA TURNS FOCUS TO POLICE

Tags:  PGOV PREL PHUM KDEM HU 
pdf how-to read a cable
VZCZCXRO8045
RR RUEHDBU RUEHFL RUEHKW RUEHLA RUEHNP RUEHROV RUEHSR
DE RUEHUP #0168/01 0621453
ZNY CCCCC ZZH
R 031453Z MAR 09
FM AMEMBASSY BUDAPEST
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC 3948
INFO RUEHZL/EUROPEAN POLITICAL COLLECTIVE
C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 BUDAPEST 000168 

SIPDIS

DEPARTMENT FOR EUR/CE JAMIE LAMORE, EUR/PGI JODY
BUCKNEBERG, AND DRL

E.O. 12958: DECL: 03/03/2019
TAGS: PGOV PREL PHUM KDEM HU
SUBJECT: NEW VIOLENCE AGAINST ROMA TURNS FOCUS TO POLICE
RESPONSE

REF: A. BUDAPEST 0149

B. 2008 BUDAPEST 01137

Classified By: A/POL/ECON:JMARTINSON, REASON 1.4(A)

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 BUDAPEST 000168

SIPDIS

DEPARTMENT FOR EUR/CE JAMIE LAMORE, EUR/PGI JODY
BUCKNEBERG, AND DRL

E.O. 12958: DECL: 03/03/2019
TAGS: PGOV PREL PHUM KDEM HU
SUBJECT: NEW VIOLENCE AGAINST ROMA TURNS FOCUS TO POLICE
RESPONSE

REF: A. BUDAPEST 0149

B. 2008 BUDAPEST 01137

Classified By: A/POL/ECON:JMARTINSON, REASON 1.4(A)


1. (U) The string of violence against Roma continued on
February 23 when two people were murdered in their home in
the village of Tatarszentgyorgy in central Hungary. The
victims, a 27-year-old father and his 5-year-old son, were
inside when attackers threw a Molotov cocktail into the home
and shot the victims from behind as they tried to escape.
The victim's other two children also sustained serious
injuries in the attack.


2. (U) Political leaders and Roma representatives quickly
responded to the attack by issuing statements to the media.
President Solyom said he was "shocked" and "appalled" at the
attacks, while the leader of the liberal Free Democrats
Party, Gabor Fodor, said the attacks demonstrate that
"something is very wrong with Hungary." The rhetoric from
Roma leaders was more alarming, with MP Florian Farkas
predicting a "civil war" in Hungary "unless a solution is
found for the integration of the Roma." National Gypsy
Authority leader Orban Kolompar blamed the media and certain
politicians for the crimes and called on Hungarian Roma to
"join forces" to confront the current crisis. Hungary's
minority ombudsman, Erno Kallai, said Hungary's mainstream
and the Roma are in the midst of a "cold war" where "everyone
hates the other."


3. (U) Along with the chorus of public officials decrying the
attacks against the Roma, the government has offered some
proposals to address the problem. Prime Minister Gyurcsany
recently revived an effort to outlaw hate speech and said he
will initiate a process to amend the constitution to achieve
this objective. The main opposition party FIDESZ, however,
opposes this idea and has stated that stricter penalties for
criminals is the solution to detering racially motived
crimes. However, a FIDESZ-backed "three strikes and you're
out" bill which would have mandated more severe punishment
for repeat offenders was rejected on March 2 by Parliament.


4. (U) The Prime Minister has also put forward a proposal to

increase the number of police officers in 200 towns and
villages across the country and has promised more funding to
support law enforcement efforts. (Comment: Though the
proposed increase in police numbers may provide long-term
improvement in public safety, given the very austere
budgetary environment in which Hungary finds itself,
prospects to realize this proposal seems dim, leaving the
Roma community vulnerable for further targeting. End
Comment.)


5. (U) The police in particular are drawing growing public
scrutiny for their handling of the investigations into the
attacks and their inability to curb the violence. The most
recent incident was the fifty-fourth violent attack against
Roma in Hungary in the past one and a half years. Seventeen
of these incidents involved Molotov cocktails, and seven
people have been killed in the attacks. Despite the growing
violence against Roma, there has not yet been a single arrest
in any of the fifty-four reported attacks. Other than a
report that a former police officer is being questioned as a
suspect in the murder of two Roma in November, there is no
additional information that suggests that police are
closing-in on the perpetrators. Although the public seems to
believe this is a sign of police incompetence, others worry
that it may be a sign of police indifference towards Roma
crime victims.


6. (C) Roma leader and Member of the European Parliament,
Viktoria Mohacsi, fears that police culpability could extend
beyond either incompetence or indifference. During a
conversation with PolOff on February 24, Mohacsi expressed
deep concern that the police may have been in collusion with
the attackers in some of the cases. Mohacsi was on the scene
of the attack in Tatarszentgyorgy the morning of the murders
and said she believes there are clear signs of an attempt by
police to corrupt the investigation. She noted that despite
the extensive evidence that the victims were murdered, the
police ruled out foul play within minutes of arriving at the
scene. She said they hastily reported that the victims
instead died of smoke inhalation resulting from an electrical
fire. Mohacsi reported that police also refused to interview
witnesses until she arrived on the scene nearly ten hours
after the attack. She told PolOff that as she was speaking
with the policeman in charge of the scene, a Roma woman
approached them with a bloody, bullet-ridden shirt in her
hands and screamed, "Would you please take this bloody shirt

BUDAPEST 00000168 002 OF 002


as proof?" The officer reportedly responded by accusing the
woman, saying, "Why were you hiding this evidence from the
police?"


7. (C) Mohacsi also noted that the police did not seal the
crime scene until after she arrived and began inquiring into
the attack. Until that time, witnesses and onlookers were
allowed to enter the home at will and reportedly removed
items including bullet casings and a broken bottle believed
to have been the Molotov cocktail.


8. (U) For their part, the police contend that their initial
handling of the case in Tartarszentgyorgy was nothing more
than simple carelessness. During a police press conference
attended by EmbOffs on February 27, police officials
acknowledged that local officers were at fault for failing to
seal the crime scene until several hours after the attack.
But they blamed this carelessness, in part, on the village
doctor who allegedly determined that the victims died of
smoke inhalation, leading the police to quickly rule-out foul
play. Contrary to Viktoria Mohacsi's claim, police officials
stated that no one in the village attempted to provide any
evidence to the police that could have led them to suspect a
crime. They said that the police were only alerted to the
possibility of a crime eight hours later when they allegedly
received a phone call from someone who found four bullet
casings inside the home.


9. (C) In a private conversation with the Embassy's Legal
Attache (LEGATT) on March 2, police officials expressed
concern over the relative inexperience of the local police
officers working the investigations. According to the
officials, most of these officers are under the age of 30 and
lack any significant crime investigation experience.


10. (C) Viktoria Mohacsi condemned the police's response to
the fifty-four violent crimes against Roma since 2007, saying
that the police "always exclude race as a motive" and that
there is a widely-held belief within the police department
that "all gypsies are criminals." She said that in several
cases the police have contradicted themselves by saying that
the perpetrators are "Nazis" but then publicly denied that
the attacks were motivated by race. Mohacsi's mounting
distrust of the police was evident during her meeting with
PolOff when she said she feared for her life because she was
uncertain if even the police could protect her. Mohacsi is
currently under twenty-four hour police protection.


11. (C) Although no one has been arrested in any of the
fifty-four crimes, police officials reported that there are
some common links in the murder cases that could suggest that
either a serial killer(s) or some type of organized effort is
behind the Roma killings. They reported that all of the
victims lived in the last house on the road with easiest
access out of a small village, all of the attacks occurred
during the night, and all of the victims died from gunshot
wounds. Viktoria Mohacsi also shared with PolOff that each
of the attacks took place in villages along a major highway
with easy escape routes. She said that police had also
shared confidential information with her that they believe
that the same murder weapon was used in at least two of the
attacks. Additional confidential information shared by the
National Bureau of Investigation with LEGATT on March 2
alleges that the perpetrators may have used Google Earth
software to target homes in rural villages prior to attacking
them.


12. (C) Comment: Embassy Budapest LEGATT offered forensics
assistance to the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI)
which has the lead on the investigations. NBI accepted the
offer and is negotiating with LEGATT to determine the exact
assistance LEGATT will provide. Post believes this
relationship may give us a valuable opportunity to assess the
police investigations into these crimes. End comment.

Foley