A Roma man has died in the Czech town of Teplice after police allegedly kneeled on his neck but the authorities deny any wrongdoing.
Stanislav Tomáš, 46, died on 19 June during a police intervention. A video which has been shared on media shows that a police officer kneeled on his neck for almost 6 minutes. According to initial reports, Stanislav died in an ambulance called to the scene. He was reportedly arrested after attempting to stop a car being vandalised, but the Czech police and authorities have rejected this version of the incident. In a statement, police said that an initial autopsy had “ruled out a connection with the operation that preceded the arrest of the suspect”, and said a doctor had reported that a drug overdose was the preliminary cause of death.
“Statements from the community and the video footage put a serious question about the credibility of claims made by the police about the death of 46-year-old Stanislav,” commented Zeljko Jovanovic, Director, Roma Initiative Office. “The end of the video clearly shows that even the police officer who was keeping his knee on Stanislav’s neck realized he does not move anymore.”
“This is not an isolated incident,” he added. “Many other cases of police and far-right brutality against the Roma go unpunished. These cases are just the tip of an iceberg. Police violence runs deep in the life of Roma in the Czech Republic.”
The Czech representation to the EU did not reply immediately to a request from The Brussels Times for a response to the incident and the status of the police investigation.
