Investigation of Roma murders closed, suspects to be charged

Hungary's National Office of Investigation (NNI) has completed the investigation on the multiple Roma murders committed in 2008-2009, and is expected to ask prosecutors to raise charges against all four suspects, an NNI representative told the press on Monday.

Zoltan Csizner said the series of shootings targeting Roma families were outstanding in criminal records not only in Hungary but in the whole of Europe. A total of 78 shots were fired at nine different locations and Molotov cocktails were thrown at seven homes. The attacks killed six Roma, including a five-year-old child and seriously injured five others, including another child. The investigators said the suspects threatened the safety of 55 people altogether.

Andras Docs, a senior official of the NNI's crime department, told the press conference that three of the four men in custody are suspected of firing the shots and a fourth man, the driver, was present at two out of four sites. Docs said there is clear evidence to back up the identity of the perpetrators. He added that the collected data suggested the four man had been planning to continue with the murders and three other villages had been pinpointed in central and eastern Hungary. Two out of the four suspects have links with far right organisations and have demonstrated anti-Roma attitudes, Docs added.

Csizner said the killings have been singled out due to their unusual motivation, as police have ruled out a sexual or financial motive and suspect that taking revenge for past personal injuries and to inspire fear were the only motivations. Investigators found no connection between the suspects' injuries and the victims, they were chosen purely by location, Csizner said.

None of the suspects admitted to the killings, though they did not deny having been to sites where nobody was hurt, Docs said.

The attacks committed against Roma families living on the outskirts of small, rural villages were carried out between July 2008 and August 2009 in central and eastern Hungary. The villages where the attacks were carried out included Nagycsecs, Tatarszentgyorgy, Kisleta and Tiszalok.

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