Neighbourly violence in Hungary

05 January 1999

On December 1, 1998, late in the evening, a ten-year-old Romani boy was shot in his home in Hahót, Zala County, by his family's seventy-year-old non-Romani neighbour. The child was taken to hospital where he received an emergency operation to remove his spleen; his stomach, lungs and liver were also hit by the bullet.

According to the testimony given to the ERRC by I.B., the boy's father, the family generally had a good relationship with their neighbour, although he also shot at I.B. three years ago. On the night of the incident the neighbour had been at the family's house celebrating. He returned ten minutes after he left, shouting "Dirty Gypsies, you have stolen my bag! You stole my key! I can not get into my home! Give it back to me because if you don't I will kill everyone there!" He then fired a shot through the window which hit the boy. Investigations are in progress although the police have already found the bag at the seventy-year-old man's house. (ERRC)