3 Hungarian men jailed over Roma killings

{{Four Hungarian men have been sentenced to jail after they were found guilty of killing six Roma, including a five-year-old child, in a wave of racially-motivated attacks between 2008 and 2009.}}

A Budapest court on Tuesday handed down life sentences to Arpad Kiss, Istvan Kiss and Zsolt Peto. Fourth defendant, Istvan Csontos, who served as a driver to his accomplices, was sentenced to 13-year prison.

The four convicted men, aged between 28 and 42 at the time of the crimes, are expected to appeal the verdict.

During a year-long spree of violence, six people were killed and five seriously injured, all of them ethnic Roma, a community that makes up between five to eight percent of Hungary’s 10 million population.

In one of the most gruesome attacks, a Roma father and his five-year-old son were gunned down as they tried to flee their house, which the gang had set on fire.

Prosecutors said the four defendants, all hard-core fans of the Debrecen football club in northeastern Hungary with neo-Nazi links, had had run-ins with Roma in the past.

wirestory

Comments

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *