The European Roma Rights Center (ERRC) and the Roma Center of Vojvodina will file a lawsuit against the police officer who on 13.1.2023 broke into the home of a Roma family in Belgrade and attacked the members of the household. Applications for discrimination have been submitted to the Commissioner for the Protection of Equality, and additional legal options are currently being explored with the family.
Who lives in the assembly for the Roma, the police do not respect these rights, nor do they do it illegally.
Neighbors called the police early on January 13, 2023 at the addressee of the family, in the municipality of Savski venac in Belgrade, and complained that they were listening to loud music. In the house were Miloš (36) and his wife Sofija (27), who is seven months pregnant, as well as his cousin Duško (25) and their children. Around 1:00 a.m., three police officers arrived at the house. They kicked the door open, entered without permission and were abusive and violent from the moment they entered.
arrived.
Duško asked him why he was trespassing without a court order, why they beat him with sticks, Miloš and Sofija, as well as all the children who got in their way.
In his statement, Miloš described the night: "It was around one o'clock in the morning when three policemen broke into my house without even knocking." I opened the sliding door with kicks and went inside. I turned down the music and my grandson asked me - How can you log in without an account? That's when I started recording. They answered him - Since you are so bright, give your identity card and come with us to the police station. They began to forcibly drag him out of the house,
and my grandson kept telling them that he would give them an identity card if they just left the house without even knocking, not to mention that he didn't have a warrant. They knocked him to the floor and tried to pull him out by holding his arms and legs. One of the police officers takes my phone from the cancer and erases himself as much as possible.
The police then shouted rape, and since my grandson tried to defend him, he beat me too. My pregnant wife and eight-year-old daughter tried to protect me, and the policeman kicked my daughter, saying: "fuck you Gypsy mother", and even I hit my pregnant woman in the head with his fist. Then the reinforcements arrived, a tenth of them entered, took me and my grandson out into the yard, did not knock them to the floor and did not beat them.
My pregnant wife did not follow outside and I hit her in the head again with my fist."
ECPR today released the video from the phone of the children who witnessed the brutality. This is the only video that remained from that evening, because the policemen took away the phones of the adults and deleted all the videos they found on them. In the video, the policemen drag Duško out of the house until they arrest Miloš and take him to the police station. The family can clearly be heard yelling at the policemen, "you have no right to enter without an order", "watch how they don't beat you, don't even pick up your phone so we don't record what they are doing". You can clearly hear Sofia shouting "I'm pregnant", while another person shouts "you're a pregnant woman, you have no right".
Sofia described the incident: "I can't allow my husband to beat me." I tried to defend him. One policeman said to me - I don't care that you are pregnant. Then he punched me in the head and pushed me away."
Miloš and Duško were taken to the Savski Venac police station and held there for twelve hours, while the police officers continued to beat them and insult them on racial grounds. The police forced both Miloš and Duško to sign statements that the police prepared for them, but they did not even read them to them.
ECPR provides medical evidence for the injuries sustained and explores all legal options to support the family in their fight for justice. The names of the individuals in this media release have been changed to protect their identities.
