ROMA leaders urged the European Union (EU) today to speak out against the “brutal death” of Stanislav Tomas, who died after a Czech police officer kneeled on his neck for more than six minutes.

The Transnational Roma movement — Proud Roma; Free Europe has penned an open letter to European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen and other leading officials calling on them to break their “deafening silence” over last month’s death.

“Though the violent police intervention was reported widely, there has been a deafening silence from EU leaders who have not said a word against the brutal act,” Zeljko Jovanovic, director of the Roma Initiatives Office, one of the organisations leading the movement, said.