Detective, fireman face action in Roma murder probe

A detective and fire investigator face disciplinary action in connection with the recent murder of a Roma man and his five-year-old son, the government spokesman said on Wednesday.

Reports by the ministries of health, local government and law enforcement ordered by Prime Minister Ferenc Gyurcsany were discussed at Wednesday's government meeting, said David Daroczi.

The reports show that mistakes were made by police, the health authorities and fire services during the investigation of the incident that happened in Tatarszentgyorgy, south east of Budapest, on February 23, Daroczi said.

A petrol bomb was thrown at a family's home and the father and son were shot dead while trying to escape from the burning building, and two other children suffered serious injuries. Several hours after the killings, the authorities were still insisting that the victims' home had burst into flames due to an electric fault, and they had both died of suffocation, even though it was by then obvious that they had been shot, the Roma Civil Rights Foundation (RFA) said on the day after the incident.

"For some, the life of Roma people… is not valuable enough to deserve professional treatment," the RFA said. The authorities' performance had been "negligent, indifferent and amateurish," its statement added.

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