Plzen, West Bohemia, Jan 26 (CTK) – The Regional Court in Plzen sent yesterday two policemen, Jan Pergl and Lukas Zahradnik, to prison for eight years for beating up a homeless man to death.
The policemen, aged 26 and 27 years, were found guilty of causing a severe bodily harm and abuse of public office.
According to the indictment, they attacked the homeless man in Plzen in October 2013. They hit him with a truncheon and then they were kicking him. The man succumbed to the injuries in hospital a few days later.
The regional court dealt with the case for the other time.
In December 2014, it acquitted both police officers of charges for the lack of evidence.
However, the appeals High Court in Prague returned the case to Plzen for reappraisal as it had disagreed with the assessment of evidence. It also ordered to work out a psychologist’s expert opinion on the police officers.
According to the expert opinion, the defendants are not extremely aggressive, they do not tend to act too emotionally and are able to judge their deeds.
The state attorney proposed a prison sentence from eight to 16 years, while the defence counsel demanded that both policemen be acquitted.
The policemen have not been put off duty, but they do administrative work in office now.
They admitted at the beginning of the trial that they had met the homeless man, but denied having used violence against him.
The police were reported that a homeless man was disturbing a woman in a dormitory by knocking on her window. They left for the place to check it out, but the man was not there. This is why they went to a nearby settlement where the homeless stayed and asked the man to go to the police station.
According to the charges, they were beating up the man then, causing him a rib fracture, abdominal bleeding, haemorrhages and a pancreas injury. The man died of the injuries later.
