Policemen given light sentences for attack on Roma man

Human rights groups have criticised a court verdict in Karlovy Vary after three police officers received suspended sentences for an attack on a Roma man. The court found the three guilty of beating up Karel Billy in woods near the city in May 2001 and sentenced them to ten months in prison, suspended for two years. Two other officers involved in the incident were set free. The court ruled the attack was not racially motivated. All three defendants and the state prosecutor appealed against the verdict, which was criticised by the government's human rights commissioner Jan Jarab.