Hungary: Woman Killed in Latest Attack on Roma

By Elizabeth A. Conger
Impunity Watch Reporter, Europe

BUDAPEST, Hungary - A forty-five-year-old Roma woman was shot dead and her thirteen-year-old daughter seriously injured in their home in the northeastern village of Kisléta on Monday. The attack is the latest in a series of attacks perpetrated against Roma people in Hungary over the past year. 

Over half a dozen Roma people have been killed over the past year, and attacks have exacerbated as Hungary's economic crisis has deepened.

The mayor of Kisléta, Sandor Penzes, said: "The woman was shot and killed and her thirteen-year-old daughter suffered life-threatening injuries and remains hospitalized...we know nothing about the motive."

Penzes said further, "I've been mayor here for nineteen years, but such (incidents) are not characteristic of this area...we have not had a single slap exchanged between a Roma and a Hungarian."

The Szalbolcs-Szatmar-Bereg county police have said that it is too early to link this attack to earlier attacks. Police spokeswoman, Rita Fedor, said: "At this point, it would be too early to draw parallels to (other attacks on Roma) but we are of course investigating this possibility...we can't say this was racially motivated but we also can't rule it out."

The house was attacked in the middle of the night, and was located on the outskirts of town. This pattern reflects other attacks against Roma people which have occurred over the past year.

This past February a Roma man and his five-year-old son were murdered in Tatarszengyorgy in Central Hungary. The two were shot dead as they fled their firebombed home. In April, a 54-year-old grandfather was shot a few yards away from his home.  

Hungary has experienced an alarming rise in nationalism and anti-Roma violence in the past year. In elections for the European parliament this past June, Jobbik, a nationalist and openly anti-Roma party, seized nearly fifteen percent of the popular vote, winning three seats in parliament.

For more information, please see:

Naplo - Roma Woman Shot Dead in NE Hungary - 3 August 2009

NY Times - Hungary: Roma Woman Killed in Ambush on Home - 3 August 2009

Reuters - Roma woman shot dead in latest Hungary attack - 3 August 2009

The Times Online - Jobbik:  Meet the BNP's fascist friends in Hungary - 9 June 2009

 

Comments

[eh]

There's nothing particularly "alarming" about nationalism, per se. Violence is another matter.

BTW, it's not really 'pattern-ish' for a Roma house (for those who live in an actual house) to be outside of town. In fact, in this and many other (e.g. not sending their children to school) ways they segregate themselves, living in what would better be called encampments rather than settlements. This is their lifestyle -- it is what they choose. You can find Gypsies, some of whom, but not all, are Roma, living this way in most countries in Europe. I've seen their encampments outside French villages. Of course this does not endear them to the local population, which after seeing the reality of it I can well understand.

I think there's a lot of naivete on this site about the 'Roma'.

Of course crimes against them should be investigated, the same as everyone else.