Ostrava court postpones high profile Roma arson attack proceedings

The Ostrava regional court has postponed until September 6 the trial of four alleged neo-Nazis accused of an arson attack which nearly killed a young Roma girl and left her scarred for life. The trial of the four men, who could face life sentences for the crime, has been running since May. The attack happened in April 2009 when three Molotov cocktails were thrown into the house of a Roma family at Vítkov near Opava in the far east of the country. The prosecution says the attacks were motivated by the accused’s extremist right-wing views and wish to mark the 120th anniversary of the birth of Adolf Hitler. A recording between two of the accused was offered as evidence at the start of this week by the prosecution. On the tape, one said that he regretted they had not imitated an attack in Hungary where two members of a Roma family were shot when they fled their firebombed home.