Government demands full investigation into "racially motivated" murders

The government has called on law enforcement to give top priority to a suspected racially motivated pair of murders in a village in northeast Hungary on Monday and to investigate all possible motives, racial and other.

Two people, a man, 43, and a woman, 40, both Roma, died instantly of gunshot wounds in what may have been random shooting. The perpetrator or perpetrators fired into two houses, across the street from one another, after throwing petrol bombs in through the windows during the night. The killings were in the village of Nagycsecse, Borsod-Abauj-Zemplen County, police spokesman Tamas Dobi told MTI.

One house caught fire and according to some witnesses the shots were fired as three adults and one child attempted to flee, killing two adults.

The houses were apparently sprayed with bullets, police said.

Justice and law enforcement minister Tibor Draskovics said a special investigative team was being put together to find out exactly what happened. The team will combine county police with members of the national Bureau of Investigations, Draskovics said.

Amidst beliefs that the crime may have been racially motivated, the government intends to learn every detail. Asked if he had heard that a loan shark may have been involved, the justice minister acknowledged that this was one aspect under investigation. Parliament's human rights committee will debate the killings on Tuesday, chairman Zoltan Balog told MTI. He warned that the committee had to be circumspect, for while many suspected a racist motive, none had been proven. We need to wait for the police to complete their investigation, said Balog, of the opposition Fidesz party.

The Socialist party's deputy parliamentary group leader Tibor Kovacs and the prime minister's special commissioner for Roma issues, Laszlo Teleki earlier called on parliament's human rights committee to take up the case, although Teleki also acknowledged that the racist motivation had not been proved at this point in the investigation.

The National Gypsy Authority firmly believes the action was racially motivated. Spokesman Janos Bogdan told MTI that he had consulted with Jozsef Balog, a senior official in the Roma interest organisation and had learned that two pubs run by Roma in nearby Sajoszoged and Sajooros had been attacked with petrol bombs overnight on Sunday, shortly before the combined petrol bomb and shooting spree. This would strongly suggest racial motivation. Bogdan said the Gypsy Authority was initiating a meeting with the national police chief and justice minister. He called on county investigators to find the perpetrators as quickly as possible because "while people like that are free, no Gypsy can be safe in Hungary."

European Parliament Member Viktoria Mohacsi held a news conference in which she called on police to conduct a quick and professional investigation that did not preclude the possibility that the motive was racism.

Tibor Nagy, whose wife and brother were the victims, was also injured. He said the two had stood up to look out of the window when the petrol bomb exploded, and were both shot.

A petrol bomb thrown into the house on the other side of the street did not ignite the home. Parents and two children were at home but were not forced to leave.

A neighbour, whose partner carried the victims' bodies out of the burning home, told MTI that both the man and the woman had been shot in the head.

Nagycsecse, has 1,000 residents, many of whom are Roma. Roma leaders suspect that members of far right groups were responsible.

The Borsod-Abauj-Zemplen police have offered 1 million forints (3,900 euros) to anyone who comes forward with information about the attack.

• Email
• Save to My Caboodle