The family of the victims of the Hurbanovo shooting, in which former municipal police officer Milan Juhász killed three Roma people and injured another two, filed a complaint to the Constitutional Court, saying that the ruling of the Specialised Criminal Court, as well as the trial, violated their rights. The court accepted the complaint on May 27, and has already given it to the judge rapporteur, the SITA newswire reported on June 16.
The family is complaining, among other things, about the expert opinion of psychiatrists, which said that Juhász should remain in the hospital and undergo medical treatment. Based on this opinion he was sentenced to nine years in a maximum-security prison on March 27.
Marek Szilvási from the European Roma Rights Centre (ERRC), which filed the complaint along with Stanislav Jakubčík, the lawyer of the family, said that the court did not take into consideration that the shooting might have been racially motivated.
Moreover, the ruling “did not ensure the proper execution of justice” and it is not in compliance with the Slovak constitution and the Convention for Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms, ERRC and Jakubčík said, as reported by SITA.
Meanwhile, the Sme daily reported in its June 17 issue that Juhász is probably serving out his sentence in a regular cell. The management of the correctional officers decides on where the sentenced will serve their prison sentences. They, however, refuse to say where he is, as he allegedly does not wish to publish this information.
Prisons have to report the movement of a prisoner to the court. The Specialised penal Court received the last report on Juhász’s stay from Leopoldov. Since the verdict was handed down in March they have not received any reports regarding the start of psychiatric treatment, Sme wrote.
The shootings took place on June 16, 2012, shortly after 10:00. Juhász, then aged 51, parked his car in front of the house of a Roma family and proceeded to shoot dead a 44-year-old man, his 19-year-old son and 24-year-old son-in-law. A second son was shot in the lung and the son’s wife was shot in the leg. The police located the gunman about an hour later, sitting in front of the house of Hurbanovo’s mayor, Margita Zemková.
Psychological forensic experts said during the trial that Juhász was not completely sane when he committed the crime. The suspect did not contest the charges. Moreover, the experts claimed that Juhász was not fully aware of what he was doing and recommended that he receive psychiatric treatment. They did not offer a clear opinion about a possible racial motive for his crime, Sme wrote in March.
Source: SITA, Sme
Compiled by Radka Minarechová from press reports
The Slovak Spectator cannot vouch for the accuracy of the information presented in its Flash News postings.
