They said nothing, did not explain, and just said that the young man had to go with them. An hour later they brought him back but only to take his last night clothes with him. They took him away again. The young men told me that the investigation (confession – remark of the CM) was forced out with beating.

When they were taken to the prison in Novi Sad, they were assaulted for several days. My son was beaten by seven or eight men, they pulled him by his hair like maniacs, hit him on his eyes.” (From the conversation with the relatives – remark of the CM.)

According to the relatives, the local police commander later announced: “I could have taken at least fifteen of them into custody.” Why these five young men were arrested? No one knows the answer yet. The parents say that the young men were interrogated and about 1:30pm they were taken to blood and urine test. The urine test showed that all of them had a minimum quantity of alcohol. The parents say that the official report states that all the young men are of 0 blood type although Árpád Horváth is undoubtedly of A Rh+. The relatives are at a loss to explain this fact. They question why it was written so.

Mr Horváth, Árpád’s father: “Who took the blood samples from Temerin? And once they had the samples, why did they take blood twice more from the boys? The samples were exchanged. It is only a thought, it is not sure, but if they have the first blood sample and it is frozen, they could show that it was the real one.” (From the conversation with the relatives – remark of the CM.)

The families are sceptical about the results of the investigation, since Árpád’s parents state that their son was so unconscious in those morning hours that he did not even know where he was when the police came for him. The court did not want to acknowledge that the young men were under the influence of alcohol or drugs when they had had their incident with Petrović and when they were arrested, although, the parents say that even a policeman said that they could not interrogate the young men since they were not in a proper condition for that. One of the young men’s lawyers asked twice to have that policeman heard as a witness but the court refused that. The parents are also confused with the fact that the police did the alcohol test only after hours of the arrest although it is the first thing they should have done similarly to when road accidents are examined.

However, in case of the offended the court took into consideration that he was a relapsed drug-user and in the time of the incident he was under the influence of alcohol. (2)

The parents also cannot understand the paradox of the following: if the accused had pushed a huge stick into Petrović’s anus, how could it have been possible that Petrović was sitting on his hospital bed while he was talking to Rasim Ljaljić, the Minister of the Minority. (3)

A relative of Zsolt Illés: “The other thing is the stick, that was supposedly pushed up into the offended’s anus by the young men. If a stick is found, as a material proof, it is immediately treated and the fingerprints are taken from it. There are no fingerprints in this case. Where are they? If the examining judge has the task to examine the fingerprints, why has he not done so?

Also, it was said that Petrović’s jaw was broken but there was no X-ray taken of it. We visited the man in the hospital and he was talking normally.”

Mr Horváth, Árpád’s father: “The doctor said, he heard about the stick though he did not see it, he was only operating on Petrović!” (From the conversation with the relatives – remark of the CM.)

The parents also say that there is no hard evidence connected to the stick, and they say that it is possible that it was done by someone else, what is known for sure is that the stick went 2 cm into the anus. According to our conversationalists, the sack was put under Petrović’s head (by whom, it’s not known) and not on it. It was only made-up by the Serbian media. It is also for sure that it happened at about 2am. However, no one speaks about a black car that parked by the offended for long. What happened there at that time? There is no answer. The parents say that the court also did not investigate upon this. (4)

Mr Horváth, Árpád’s father: “…Many young people saw a black car near to the market place. Who was in the car, what was in the car, we do not know. The next day three black cars were looking for the boys, asking about them near to the pub, men in three black cars of Audi brand.

And, we also heard that there were no registration number plates on the cars. We also heard that a huge group of Serbs started off from Novi Sad to take vengeance on the Hungarians in Temerin. Luckily, it was stopped in time by the police.” (From the conversation with the relatives – remark of the CM.)

The parents also find it confusing that although Petrović had no papers with himself, when he was found with a broken jaw (that made his talk almost impossible) and in a really overpowered state he could still identify himself.

In the bill of indictment of the attempted murder it was written that the perpetrators urinated on the victim and even burnt him. The parents say that the experts found no traces of urine or burns.

Mr Horváth, Árpád’s father: “One of the citizens asked the policeman who this man was when he was found and the policeman named him correctly.

When the citizens found him, they said there was no stick in his anus, the stick was on the grass as the photo shows it, the person was conscious and he was wailing.

In addition, an iron rod was also mentioned; allegedly our sons hit Petrović 25 times with it. Also, it is said that they used a lath to beat him, and that morning the lath was found in a garden nearby next to its fence by the police.”

Árpád’s aunt: “With this effort they could have found material evidence as far as the fifth or sixth house.”

She continues: “Petrović was found after 6am near to the market place and at 9am he was taken to the hospital in Novi Sad. Where was that man who was seriously harmed for 3 long hours? It was measured that the ambulance can make the Temerin-Novi Sad route in 12 minutes due to its special status.” (From the conversation with the relatives – remark of the CM.)

Mr Horváth, Árpád’s father: “… The court did not acknowledge many things. They were turning the documents over and over. The lawyers were assigned by the court and were financed by the state. So far they have not done anything definitive. They acted as if they were ordered not to do anything in the interest of our sons.

When the mandate of the lawyer expired, he said even if we paid him in gold, he would not continue representing our case – there is no chance to win anything!

These lawyers were told what to say and how to act and their aim was not to defend our sons.

The judge did not acknowledge a bunch of documents at the appeal, she just threw them aside, this was not interesting, this should be skipped, etc…

Mr Horváth, Árpád’s father: “… The court did not acknowledge many things. They were turning the documents over and over. The lawyers were assigned by the court and were financed by the state. So far they have not done anything definitive. They acted as if they were ordered not to do anything in the interest of our sons.

When the mandate of the lawyer expired, he said even if we paid him in gold, he would not continue representing our case – there is no chance to win anything!

These lawyers were told what to say and how to act and their aim was not to defend our sons.

The judge did not acknowledge a bunch of documents at the appeal, she just threw them aside, this was not interesting, this should be skipped, etc…

The relatives are aggrieved at having been forbidden to enter the court hearings though they behaved themselves properly. This happened because Petrović’s mother had a fit of rage at the beginning of the hearings and started yelling in the court room that “every Hungarian is a criminal” and took Jasenovac for an example. Then the judge interrupted the proceedings, turned them into hearings in camera, and forbade the relatives to enter the court room. The parents think it was done to prevent the information leaking out. (7)

Mr Horváth, Árpád’s father: “This case cannot be solved in the internal level because if they had wanted, the case could have taken a good course; the punishment should have been reduced, on the second hearing they would have said, alright, we would ease the punishment. The same thing went to the second hearing, and someone had an interest in not changing anything, let everything remain as it was. What was the aim?

The aim was to punish them as much as possible for beating a Serb. This whole process is absurd together with its punishment and its hearings.”(From the conversation with the relatives – remark of the CM.)

Mr Béla Csorba, Vice-President of the VMDP (The Democratic Party of the Hungarians in Vojvodina)

It is indisputable that having Petrović beaten came to many as “a gift”. It was there to balance the villainous beatings that the Hungarians in Vojvodina had to suffer continuously at that time and which started to become a European scandal. To balance it, a petty pub fight would not have done. The Serbian nationalist elite needed a “bigger” issue; and I would not be surprised at all if there would be more details coming up about the incident in Temerin – details that were manipulated or unpublished. Naturally, it does not lessen the seriousness of the crime committed by the five young men. It is indisputable that they deserve punishment – it is acknowledged by their parents, too – but the Draconian punishment can be treated only as a decision that is coloured by the political climate and can be used as a psychological threat against the Hungarian community in Vojvodina. It has a message to all of us – we are not equal. This is exactly that dimension where everyone has to stand up against the judgement of first instance even if we deeply condemn the young men’s behaviour

Mr Béla Miavecz, Mgr – member of the Presidency of the VMSZ (The Association of the Hungarians in Vojvodina)

I am deeply indignant with this case especially because those perpetrators who beat a Hungarian within an inch of his life on provable ethnic base by the Danube in Novi Sad are still free; their case has not even been started yet. In the Temerin case many concrete facts were concealed which shows that the court proceedings were used to intimidate the Hungarians in Vojvodina. This is supported by the processes of the hearings, and the unprecedented judgement. I hope that having the new developments in the case, the Secretary of the Minority in Vojvodina and the MNT (The Hungarian National Council) will take appropriate steps. (8)

Dr Antal Bozóki, a lawyer from Novi Sad were not appearing for the young men’s defence but as an expert of the Serbian code of law shared his opinion about the case:

Similarly to all fights based on ethnic issues or other, this case is deeply condemnable. But this particular case brings up many interesting questions. For example, why did the Novi Sad court take and deal with this case as an attempted murder? In similar cases the charge is serious bodily harm. But this judgment on first instance is shocking, and even if the charge is attempted murder, it is not realistic to sentence anyone for 10-15 years of imprisonment. This judgment shocked all of us.

The Serbian media paid an enormously huge attention to this case in the last period of time.

A Serbian historian, Mr Jovan Pejin gave an interview to a Serbian magazine called the Svedok (The Witness) and he regarded the young men’s deed as nationalistic as the Hungarian gendarmerie’s killing of Serbians when entering Novi Sad (during the World War II – explained by the CM), and he expressed his wish of sentencing the Hungarians at least for 40 years per person. The Kurir (The Courier), a Serbian tabloid, had many articles published in which the Hungarian young men were referred to as murderers, executioners and wicked beasts. Zoran Petrović made a statement from his hospital bed that “as a Christian, he forgave everything to his executioners.”

The Serbian media showed photos about the convalescing Petrović in his hospital bed. The Svat (The Wedding Guest), another Serbian tabloid, published that Petrović was a heroin and alcohol addict for more than 10 years, was on a detoxication cure 4 times and suffered from Hepatitis C. Another fact is that Mr Joakim Hrubenjak, the Public Prosecutor in Novi Sad demanded at least 40 years of imprisonment for each young man and called them beasts that could not even be punished in his opinion. (9)