Activist rejects Motejls' statement on the eviction of Roma in Vsetín

Vsetín - Romani activist Jan Rác disagrees with the statement of the Public Defender of Rights Otakar Motejl, who, according to today's Mladá fronta Dnes, declared the demolition of a house and the construction of new buildings for non-compliant Romani families in Vsetín to be lawful. Rác had previously sent Motejl a detailed report on the process of relocating Romani people from a tenement house. According to Rác, the report also mentions that the apartments in the Vsetín part of Poschla, where some families from the demolished tenement house were relocated, are moldy and do not meet sanitary conditions.
    Rác commissioned a detailed study on the relocation of non-compliant families and about container apartments in the Poschla area, where part of the residents from the demolished tenement house live. "I also sent this to the ombudsman so that he could properly familiarize himself with everything. He will definitely change his opinion. Families that were honest about their rent and those who had indefinite contracts were also evicted from the tenement house. This is a violation of human rights. No one has the right to act in such a manner," Rác told ČTK today.
    According to him, it is also not true that the houses to which the Romani people were relocated meet the requirements of the building law. However, Motejl stated according to MfD that the relocation was in accordance with the building law. According to Rác, the apartments are moldy. "The hygienists saw it too, and it's not due to the poor use of the apartments," he said. Motejl told ČTK today that he is still dealing with the issue of the relocation of non-compliant families. He will issue a report from the investigation. However, he did not specify when.
    The demolition of the tenement house was initiated by the Vsetín city hall in October of last year. The reason was its emergency state and unsatisfactory statics. At that time, the head of the city hall was the current Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Regional Development Jiří Čunek (KDU-ČSL).
    Last year, the police received 13 criminal complaints against Čunek, but one case was dismissed. Complaints against the former mayor of Vsetín were primarily filed due to the relocation of Romani families. People accuse the former mayor of crimes such as defamation, extortion, oppression, or abuse of power by a public official.
    In addition to the Romani people themselves, criminal complaints against the current chairman of KDU-ČSL were also filed by director Břetislav Rychlík and the Roma Vidnava association. In mid-November, some Vsetín Romani people who ended up in three small villages in Jesenicko after being evicted from the city also filed criminal complaints.
    The mayor and his associates are accused of five crimes: oppression, abuse of power by a public official, extortion, restriction of personal freedom, and fraud. Representatives of the association are convinced that all these crimes have been committed in this case. At that time, all families who found themselves in Jesenicko signed the criminal complaint. However, Čunek has previously denied the Romani people's claim that they signed the contracts for the purchase of properties under duress.