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Romania: Romani murdered

01 May 1994

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An inquiry report by the International Federation of Human Rights and the "Agir ensemble pour les droits de l'homme" has found official inaction and racist attitudes in reaction to the murder of a Romani (gypsy) and the burning of houses in Hadrani on 21 September 1993.

The village of Hadrani has a population of 863 people - 595 Romanians, 193 Hungarians and 130 Romani. Following the killing of a Romanian in a fight with two Romanis nearly the whole Romanian and Hungarian population gathered around a house where the gypsies had fled and set it on fire - two escaped but one died. The crowd then set fire to another fourteen houses and destroyed fifteen others as the occupants fled to the surrounding countryside. These events took place despite the presence of two police officers.

The inquiry team found that officials excused these actions by pointing to "anti social behaviour" of a section of the gypsy community. This view was reflected in the media which portrayed Romani as being thieves, violent, traffickers, uncivilised and undesirable. They found that noone had been arrested for the murder and attacks even though lawyers for the Romani knew the perpetrators. The authorities had also used these events to forcibly move members of the Romani community out of the area by using an old law, Law no 5 of 1971, on "the rights of residence of Romanian citizens".

La Lettre FIDH 24.3.94.

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