Minister of State for Municipal Affairs András Tállai and Minister of State for Social Inclusion Zoltán Kovács attended the ceremony held in remembrance of the victims of the 2008 Nagycsécs attack, which were part of a series of attacks on Roma people.

Racism is not a natural disaster but the work of human beings, and hatred against minorities is intensifying in the whole of Europe, including Hungary, András Tállai, Minister of State for Municipal Affairs at the Ministry of Internal Affairs said on Saturday in Nagycsécs where perpetrators, unknown at the time, threw petrol bombs at houses inhabited by Roma and shot a woman aged 40 and a man aged 43 dead. These killings were committed as part of a series of attacks on the Roma.

András Tállai said by the graves of the two Roma victims that human freedom and dignity are one and indivisible, and all injuries committed to the detriment of one individual on account of his or her social status, origin, gender or age equally jeopardise the freedom and dignity of everyone else.
The Minister of State added that Hungary’s Fundamental Law provides genuine protection and security as well as true and complete human, personal and communal dignity for all minorities.

The objective is to enable the Roma in Hungary to find their place in the Hungary of the future where there is and there will be a place for them – we must plan for long-term co-existence. Therefore, Roma integration is „a common interest for us all”, and Hungary’s future depends on it.

Zoltán Kovács, Minister of State for Social Inclusion at the Ministry of Human Resources pointed out that hatred killed for the first time in Nagycsécs, and this hatred is inexplicable, inconceivable and is, above all, unjustifiable.
He added that we must say no to all manifestations of extremism which may offer simple solutions as there are no simple solutions.

He said that it might bring some comfort that a court judgment had been passed; however, we must live together with the consequences, must continuously remember what is left behind in the wake of these events and cannot rest. What happened in 2008-2009 is everyone’s responsibility.

Zoltán Kovács also reiterated that the Government does not perceive the Roma in categories such as victim or perpetrator but as partners with whom cooperation should be sought.

On 3 November 2008, petrol bombs were thrown at two houses inhabited by Roma in Nagycsécs and the perpetrators fired at the windows with shotguns.

In consequence of the attack, a Roma man aged 43 and a Roma woman aged 40 died, and one person sustained injuries requiring medical attention for more than eight days. The Nagycsécs attack was the first crime scene where people were killed. In 2008 and 2009, in consequence of the attacks carried out in nine localities with firearms and petrol bombs, six people lost their lives, including one child, and another five persons were seriously injured, also including one child.

(MTI/State Secretariat for Social Inclusion)