In the Czech Republic, the police have murdered a man of Roman origin after several minutes walking his neck with his knee when he was arrested. According to the media, this is a man named Stanislav Tomáš, who died on the spot. The event took place in Teplic, where there was knowledge of a video hung on social media that has been published. The security forces have indicated that the force with which they have detained man has not been excessive and that death has not been due to them, but to an overdose of drugs. This is the second time that the Russian police have murdered a Roma or Roma in the Czech Republic, and it recalls the case of George Floyd, who was killed in the United States in 2020.

The video of what happened has spread on social media since 21 June. There are three police officers who try to stop a man, one who is holding him by his legs, one who tries to put the wives and the last one who puts his knee on his neck. Stanislav Tomáš is lying on the ground and has breathing difficulties. They have it for several minutes; in the end, they call the ambulance, but the health staff can do nothing to help Tomáš.

According to Prokop Volení, spokesman for the emergency services of Ústeckha, the police called them for incidents involving two men under the influence of drugs. According to the digital edition of the newspaper Veronika Hyšplerová Blesk.cz, when the patrol arrived at the scene, one of the two men managed to flee and tried to stop the other, Stanislav Tomáš, who was detained.

The security forces have insisted that the force used was necessary: When they came to the site, they found that the man was using the violence and beating himself against several cars circulating on the street. The preliminary autopsy carried out in the ambulance has determined that Tomáš had died as a result of a "pathological change of the coronary arteries", according to the same source. The police have stressed that this was an amphetamine case and that the cause of the event was amphetamine.

Czech Prime Minister Andrej Babiš and Interior Minister Jan Hamácek have thanked Facebook and Twitter for the work done by the actors and unanimously denied their intervention. The Governing Council for the Romanesque minority has criticised the attitude of both leaders and called for a parallel investigation of what has happened, together with Amnesty International and the Council of Europe.

Several similar cases

According to the newspaper Brave New Europe, in 2016, a Romanesque man named Miroslav Demeter died in the hands of the Czech police in a traffic accident. The event took place in a restaurant in the village of Žatec, where a video was also broadcast via social media. Instead, it was observed that the agents had the man lying on the ground and crushing his neck with his knee. After the investigation, the Police explained in 2017 that Demeter had died from a drug overdose, according to the same source.

In the United States there was also a similar case in 2020. A police officer killed George Floyd, an African-American who had crushed his throat for several minutes. Despite the fact that the Czech police have denied the allegations, many have been directly linked to Tomáš on social media for their similarity to this case, on 21 June.