The Brussels non-profit organisation Kham that is committed to the defending rights and promoting the integration of the Roma community, is filing a criminal complaint against the Flemish Socialist Party Leader Conner Rousseau. The news that Kham has filed a complaint against Mr Rousseau appears in Wednesday’s edition of the daily ‘Het Laatste Nieuws’. The complaint that has been filed accuses Mr Rousseau of racism and incitement to discrimination, hatred and violence.
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Brussels Roma file criminal complaint against Flemish Socialist Party Leader
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The non-profit organisation Kham has filed the complaint with the East Flanders Public Prosecutor's Office. The complaint follows comments made by Mr Rousseau in a conversation with police officers at bar in his home town of Sint-Niklaas in early September. Under the influence of drink, Mr Rousseau made denigrating comments about the Roma community.
The Flemish Socialist Party Leader already publically apologised for his comments at a press conference held last Thursday evening. However, Kham says that this isn’t enough. The lawyer representing non-profit organisation Abderrahim Lahlali told VRT News that “Apologies are one thing. But the point is that these comments could incite hatred. I have 20 years of experience as a lawyer in many racism cases, but have never heard such a blatant violation of anti-racism legislation. This concerns the leader of a party that is in government. The impact of these comments is enormous.”
Last Friday, the Equal Opportunities Institute Unia opened an investigation into what exactly Mr Rousseau said. Unia's Director Els Keytsman told VRT News that the comments may constitute breaches of the laws on racism and incitement to violence.
Invitation to visit Auschwitz
Mr Lahlali, says that the fact that Mr Rousseau insulted the Roma community in the early hours of the morning following the commemoration of the liberation of Sint-Niklaas from the Nazis makes what was said even more painful. He points out that the Roma community were one of the big victims of the Nazi regime.
Brussels’ Roma community therefore wishes to invite Mr Rousseau to go to the Auschwitz concentration camp in Poland, where at least 20,000 Roma were murdered.
“As well as words, we also want to see action. The non-profit organisation takes Brussels young people on an annual trip to Auschwitz. If Mr Rousseau sincerely wishes to apologise, he is invited to come along. Imagine the impact his words have on the Roma community that has been persecuted in Europe for centuries.”
Today (Wednesday 11 October) Conner Rousseau will meet with a delegation from the Roma community in Sint-Niklaas. After his press conference last week, the representatives of Sint-Niklaas’ Roma community said that they will accept his apologies on condition that they are sincere and that he addresses them directly to them.