A high court in Belgrade has ruled that the Serbian Interior Ministry discriminated against Roma spouses who were harassed at police stations in 2017 after reporting that their car had been stolen, the European Roma Rights Center said.

The statement said the couple were detained at the Belgrade police station at 1pm, that police officers abused their husbands and raped him on racial grounds and threatened to take their new children from the social work center.

In the first instance decision, the court decided to compensate the husband in the amount of 4,675 euros, and the wife in the amount of 1,700 euros for discrimination, causing physical pain and suffering.

The statement said that the husband had to kneel in the room where he was surrounded by eight police officers, that one of them slapped him and forced him to admit that he stole the car himself and that the police officers shot him in the stomach. It is added that one of the police officers put a bag on his head and strangled him, while the other threatened him with a gun.

When the man asked to call a lawyer, police threatened to take away his children. His wife was in the next room, and the police officer insulted her based on her religion and the husband's ethnicity, while the police officers drank while insulting her.

She was not allowed to use the toilet and was then allowed to go to the toilet accompanied by a police officer (man), and then her request to see a lawyer was denied, the ERCC said.

Link: http://rs.n1info.com/Vesti/a622224/Evropski-centar-MUP-Srbije-diskriminisao-supruznike-romske-nacionalnosti.html?fbclid=IwAR1deyTREs5UwGJhEWc5z_wGls9gcI-Z-nulGeo5NCkMTSiqhFOaVk2VOw4

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