Forester shoots and kills a Romani man in Ukraine
10 April 2001
A 24-year-old Romani father of three children, Mr Julij Horvat, was shot and killed on August 10, 2000, by an off-duty forester in the village of Poroshkovo, western Ukraine. According to the testimony of a witness, Mr Vasil Kanalosh, on August 9, 2000, four members of a Romani family who ran a wood processing business, rented a lorry for transportation of some wood. As the driver was available only in the evening of that day, the Roma went to the forest at about 6:00 PM. It was approximately 1:00 AM when the wood was loaded onto the lorry, and when the Roma drove out of the forest. Before the lorry reached the village, one of the tyres sustained a puncture. As Mr Kanalosh, the driver, started repairing the wheel, others lay down on the side of the road and fell asleep. Mr Ka-nalosh noticed approaching lights but was not surprised as the villagers often patrolled the fields to keep thieves away. As the lights came closer, he recognised an off-duty local police officer and two local foresters. Mr Kanalosh was about to wake up the sleeping Roma, when one of the foresters named Mr Shtimak said: “Don’t get up! Keep lying on the ground as you are!” One of the younger boys wanted to get up when the forester yelled at him: “Lie down or I’ll shoot you!” Presumably it was then that Mr Horvat woke up and, not knowing what was going on, moved. He was shot by one of the foresters in the back and reportedly died immediately. According to Mr Kanalosh’s testimony, there was no warning shot. Foresters in the Ukraine are employees of the state and are authorised to carry firearms; however, it has been suggested to the ERRC that the forester in question, Mr Shtimak, was off-duty at the time of the shooting.
According to a lawyer from the Uzhorod-based non-governmental organisation Romani Yag, who represents the victim’s relatives, the police officer who witnessed the incident did not intervene in any way, nor did he try to provide help to the victim, but rather left the scene of the incident. The Perechin area local prosecutor’s office started a criminal investigation into the case on the same day, August 10, 2000. The Romani Yag lawyer has urged the investigative authorities to consider the case under Article 166(3) of the Criminal Code of Ukraine, on excessive use of power by authority causing grave consequences, which provides for punishment of between 5 and 12 years imprisonment. The Romani Yag application was rejected on the grounds that the assailant, Mr Shtimak, was not acting in an official capacity. However, even if Mr Shtimak abused his power, the laws on state responsibility attribute liability to the state in such a case. Moreover, although Romani Yag has urged the authorities to arrest Mr Shtimak, they have not done so. Romani Yag, fearing the investigation was being unduly prolonged, sent a letter of concern to the prosecutor’s office of the area, and the county-level prosecutor, and later to the General Prosecutor of Ukraine. The organisation also sent a letter of concern to the national Human Rights Ombudsperson, Ms Karpa-chova.The General Prosecutor of Ukraine, Mr Pote-ben’ko, replied to the letter of concern on February 16, 2001, informing Romani Yag that he had forwarded the case to the area prosecutor’s office for further investigation. He has also requested the local prosecutor to keep him informed about the investigation, as well as to keep the parties involved up-to-date. On February 22, 2001, the Romani Yag lawyer also filed a complaint with the county prosecutor’s office stating that the investigator, Mr Mahanetz, was deliberately protracting the investigation. Romani Yag received an official response on March 11, 2001, stating that investigator Mahanetz had been ordered to finish the investigation in a timely fashion. On April 20, 2001, the Romani Yag lawyer sent a second letter to the General Prosecutor of Ukraine expressing concern at the protracted length of the investigation. As of April 26, 2001, the investigation had produced no results, neither into the shooting, nor into the negligence of the police officer present. The repeated failure of the authorities in Ukraine to investigate crimes against Roma and the failure of courts and prosecutors to ensure justice to Romani victims has been well documented. The situation of Roma in Ukraine is the subject of the ERRC Country Report The Misery of Law: The Rights of Roma in the Transcarpathian Region of Ukraine, available on the internet at: www.errc.org.
(Romani Yag)
