Search results

"The case known in the public discourse as the Roma murders was a series of attacks on Roma committed with a distinctly anti-Gypsy, racist motive by Árpád Kiss, István Kiss, Zsolt Pető, and István Csontos – the latter having joined them later – between July 2008 and August 2009.
The perpetrators had previously committed a gun robbery in Besenyszög and then carried out firearm and Molotov cocktail attacks on Gypsies in a total of nine settlements across five counties, killing a total of six people. The investigation revealed that several of the offenders were related to the skinhead community in Debrecen, and their motive was retaliation for crimes related to gypsies and incitement of anti-Gypsy sentiments among the population.
They were arrested on 21 August 2009, in a nightclub in Debrecen, where two of the perpetrators worked as bouncers. Their criminal proceedings began on 25 March 2011, and the verdict was pronounced on 6 August 2013. The first-, second-, and third-degree defendants were sentenced to actual life imprisonment, while the fourth-order defendant was sentenced to 13 years in prison, of which he could not be released on parole, so he is expected to be released at the end of August 2022.
The publication presents the events, the process of the investigation, the arrest, and the perpetrators. The author seeks to find motivation for the events and broader social aspects."