We have started a series, titled ‘To serve and beat’ on the topic of police aggression. TASZ (Hungarian Civil Liberties Union) has been running its Roma Programme centred on the issue of police brutality for seven months in the counties of Borsod and Heves in Hungary. We have received numerous complaints of police maltreatment during this period. In some towns, local policemen abuse their power daily; they I.D. and penalize people based on their Roma origin. Their behavior often ends in violence. People living in abject poverty have no options: even if they are aware of their rights, they cannot, or fear to exercise them. They are afraid to file formal complaints. And even when they do, the counsel generally refuses to investigate.

Tomi is a township police commissioner in a small town in Borsod county (Hungary) called Taktakenéz, where he terrorizes Roma people. He penalizes them for fictional offences, punishes, swears at, threatens, and beats them as well. He previously worked in Taktaharkány (neighboring town) – and was very ‘successful’ there as well.

The second part of the film will show how TASZ acted in light of these events, and also what happened to Tomi.

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To serve and beat: Tomi the policeman (part 1.)

Elavult tartalom