Czech police officers given suspended sentences for abusing homeless

A district court in Mlada Boleslav on Tuesday gave suspended sentences to two municipal police officers for maltreating homeless people and banned them from working in the police force or other security forces. Both officers must also pay a compensation of 150,000 crowns (EUR 5,900) in total, that is 75,000 crowns each, to their victims. The verdict is not yet legally binding. Both the state attorney and the defence counsel took time for considering an appeal. According to the indictment, the two police officers maltreated homeless people in at least seven cases between 2013 and 2016. They often drove them outside the town or to its outskirts where they abused them. They forced their victims to take off their shoes. Some of the homeless have testified that the police tied them up and kicked them.