On 17 August, Mario Bango, 21 year old Roma activist, appeared before the Supreme Court of Slovakia to appeal against his conviction of attempted murder and his sentence of 12 years imprisonment. The Supreme Court upheld his conviction, but reduced his sentence to 10 years – the lowest imprisonment sentence for a crime of this nature. Joy Knight was at his appeal.
Mario entered the court gaunt and pale, but with a fighting spirit. He showed the gallery his notebook with a picture of Che Guevara on the front.
International solidarity activists from the UK and Austria were there to give their support at a very difficult time &Mac246; this was the highest court and was seen as the last possibility to overturn the conviction of a lower court. On 20 November, 2003 the Regional Court had convicted his of attempted murder and sentenced him to 12 years.
His crime? Defending himself and his twin brother, Edo, against a racially motivated attack on a bus in Petrazalka, a district of Bratislava in March, 2001. Because of the racism Roma face in Slovakia, they are often victims of racist attacks (Edo himself had been hospitalised a few months previous), and Mario carried a knife for self-defense. He used it against their attacker, Branislav Slamka. Slamka died in hospital a few weeks later from a brain haemorrhage.
Slamka was known for his racist views and had fascist associations, although it is unknown if he belonged to a fascist organisation. The time of the attack was only four days before a neo-nazi celebration of the first Slovak state – a fascist state. Mario reacted in this way because both him and his brother had suffered previous attacks from the skinhead movement, and also as a result of long term stress from racism. The bus driver confirms that he had seen other skinhead attacks on Roma on his bus.
The case was politicised from the beginning. The prosecuting lawyer, Fico, is the leader of the social democratic opposition party in Slovakia. The parliament held a one minute of silence to honour Slamka – something that is only done in very exceptional circumstances, for example the NATO attack on Yugoslavia.
During the proceedings of Mario´s trial, the general prosecution office, which has overseen his case from the beginning, changed the charge levelled against him by the District Court from "grevious bodily harm" to attempted murder.
His defense
Mario´s defense was that he acted in self-defense or "necessary defense". Fico, the prosecuting lawyer, wrote a book promoting the legality of such a defense. In this book, he states that the "attacker is the person who initiates the fight. Even if the defender is stronger or uses a weapon, he/she cannot be considered the attacker." And yet this defense fell on deaf ears in the courts.
Other mitigating details:
• the assessment made by the psychiatrist stating that Mario was acting spontaneously and responding to the events
• he was emotionally distraught and agitated – during the incident he also cut his brother in his hand by mistake
• he is young and had never been in trouble before
• he showed regret over his act
• he cooperated with the police: rang them and waited from them to Africe
• his willingness to pay the indemnity to the family of Slamka
• Slamka's death was not caused by the wounds inflicted by Mario, but by a brain haemorrage two weeks later
His appeal
These facts were re-presented at the Supreme Court. The appeal was based on three points:
1) the district court didn´t take into account all the facts,
2) the decision is breaking certain paragraphs of the punitive law, and 3) the punishment is not fitting to the crime.
The general prosecutor came to the court to support the ruling from above, but the representative, a district court judge, argued for a reduction in the sentence to the lowest possible length (10 years).
The outcome of his appeal, although lessening the sentence by two years, highlights the institutional racism that the Roma face. None of the mitigating circumstances were taken into consideration and the conviction of attempted murder was upheld. The struggle for Mario´s release still continues.
His lawyer wants to continue to pusue the case in the courts. He wants to initiate an extra-ordinary measure and convince the general prosecution office to call this verdict illegal. There is also a possibility of appealing to the Constitutional Court. And last, but not least, is taking it all the way to the European Court.
But this could take years. Right now his youth is being stolen from him.
There are things that we can do outside the courts. We must build solidarity for the immediate release of Mario. We must petition for this support to build a mass international campaign and put pressure on the Slovakian government so that it becomes politically untenable for them to keep him in prison.
FREE MARIO BANGO!l