Authorities did not investigate a possible racist motive in the shooting of a Roma family by a police officer

In the case of Lakatošová and Lakatoš v. Slovakia (application no. 655/16, 11.12.2018) the European Court of Human Rights held, unanimously, that there had been a violation of Article 14 (prohibition of discrimination), read in conjunction with Article 2 (right to life), of the European Convention on Human Rights.

The case concerned a shooting spree in 2012 by an off-duty police officer at the home of a Roma family. The two applicants in the case, a married couple, were seriously injured and three members of their family were killed.

When questioned by the police, the officer stated that he had been thinking about “a radical solution” for “dealing with” Roma people. He was ultimately given a reduced sentence of nine years’ imprisonment owing to diminished responsibility. The ruling was adopted in the form of a simplified judgment which contained no legal reasoning.

The Court found that there had been plausible information in the case to alert the authorities to the need to carry out an investigation into a possible racist motive for the assault. It observed that racist violence was a particular affront to human dignity, and required special vigilance and a vigorous reaction from the authorities. Nevertheless, the authorities had failed to thoroughly examine powerful indicators of racism in the case such as the police officer’s frustration at his inability to resolve public order issues concerning Roma, as suggested in his psychological assessment. In addition, the police officer had not been charged with a racially motivated crime and the prosecutor had not at all addressed or discussed the possible aggravating factor of a racist motive in the bill of indictment. Moreover, the courts had failed to remedy in any way the limited scope of the investigation and prosecution and the simplified judgment in the case had contained no legal reasoning to address that shortcoming. Having in mind that the authorities had failed to properly examine whether or not the attack had been motivated by racial hatred, the Court found violation of Article 14 read in conjunction with Article 2.

References from the official website of the European Court of Human Rights