Annual Report 2014 - Discrimination and the Roma community

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Cases of discrimination
3. The Castellar and Estepa cases:
two examples of hate crimes
against the Roma community
Sara Giménez Giménez.
Attorney at Law Responsible for the Area of Equality. FSG
When we stop to think of the rejection suffered by the
Roma community in Spain, it is truly worrisome to see
racism taken to its highest level: racism engendering
violence as was the case in the summer of 2014 in two
towns in Andalusia, Estepa and Castellar.
Following is a description of the two cases: In the af-
termath of alleged robberies in the case of Estepa and
a dispute resulting in material damages in the case of
Castellar in which several Roma were involved, a group
of people decided not to wait for justice to take its
course but rather to take justice into their own hands,
organising themselves and taking violent racist action
against the Roma community living in those two towns.
They demonstrated without the authorisation of the
Government Delegation and some residents made rac-
ist and hateful statements such as: “Gypsy shit get out
of our town; sons of bitches, out of Castellar. We’re
going to burn down your houses, we’re going to run
you Gypsies out of town.” They used violence against
several Roma families and burned down their homes.
What we have here is an unjust and disproportionate
illegal reaction which goes against the most basic ethi-
cal rules and codes of co-existence. There is sufficient
evidence for these incidents to be considered racist
crimes described in our criminal code (Articles 510, 170,
22.4, etc.). I believe that the following question needs to
be addressed: in cases where the fundamental rights of
Roma families are violated, where is the outcry of our
society, our political leaders, the media, organisations
defending people’s rights...? This outcry was sorely
missed this summer. There was thunderous public si-
lence in response to a very serious incident affecting
many people, children and seniors among them, whose
lives and personal safety were endangered when their
homes were set on fire. Our society, supposedly edu-
cated to uphold democratic values, showed no indig-
nation and made no response to this disproportionate
reaction. This leads me to my next question: if these
incidents had targeted some other group, would soci-
ety have reacted with the same indifference?
The reaction to racist violence should be immediate and
all stakeholders should get involved: hate and discrim-
ination prosecutors, police forces, lawyers, organisa-
tions working to uphold people’s rights, the media and
the Spanish society at large. Each one of us plays a vital
role in building a democratic society that is respect-
ful of fundamental rights; this is something we cannot
overlook in times of economic difficulty; to the con-
trary, we must be more vigilant than ever.
In the first of the two cases that took place in Estepa,
the Hate and Discrimination Crime Prosecutor is taking
action at the behest of the FSG’s Equality Department.
In the second case which occurred in Castellar, the spe-
cial prosecutor of Jaen together with the social organ-
isations forming part of the State Council of the Roma
People have filed charges calling on the justice system
to defend the victims of these regrettable acts.
Racial or ethnic hate crimes constitute an imminent
danger in our society as we have recently witnessed in
the terrible events that occurred during several football
matches, the 243 complaints filed before the Catalonia
regional police with racial or ethnic discrimination be-
ing the main motivating factor in 41% of these crimes
or misdemeanours1, the report on the evolution of hate
crimes in Spain drawn up by the Secretariat of State
for Security2 and the recommendations made by inter-
national organisations such as the Fundamental Rights
Agency (FRA), the European Commission against Rac-
ism and Intolerance (ECRI)3, and others. National and Eu-
ropean legislation in this area4 needs to be developed
and seriously implemented in Spain by the different
1 2013 Report by the Hate and Discrimination Crime Service of the Barcelona
Provincial Public Prosecutor.
2
3
4 DIRECTIVE 2012/29/EU OF THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT AND OF THE
COUNCIL of 25 October 2012 laying down minimum standards on the
rights, support and protection of victims of crime, replacing Council
Framework Decision 2001/220/JHA.