Roma death case in Teplice heads to European Court of Human Rights

The case of a Romany man, who died in June 2021 after being restrained by police officers is headed to the European Court of Human Rights. Lawyers for the European Roma Rights Centre and the Forum for Human Rights filed a lawsuit against Czechia over his death, the website Romea.cz reported on Thursday. The Czech Constitutional Court rejected the organizations’ constitutional complaint in April 2023.

The 46-year-old man collapsed on the pavement shortly after police restrained him by kneeling on his neck and died in an ambulance shortly after. The General Inspectorate of the Security Forces closed its investigation into the case last year, saying the police officers had not committed a crime and that the cause of the man’s death was heart failure caused by a heavy drug overdose.