EU: decrease in racially motivated crimes in Czech Republic in recent years

The number of racially motivated crimes recorded in the Czech Republic has fallen in recent years, according to a report released by the European Union’s Agency for Fundamental Rights. However, the report found that around one third of the country’s Romany minority say they have been the victim of attack. Czech NGO In Iustitia pointed out that the new report does not cover 2009, when there was a rise in the number of recorded crimes with a racial subtext. In the most high profile case, four neo-Nazis are accused of racially motivated attempted murder after allegedly firebombing a Romany family’s home in north Moravia in April 2009; the attack left a small child fighting for her life after suffering burns on 80 percent of her body.

Author: Ian Willoughby