The court decided on the conditions for last year’s brutal attack between classmates in Benešov nad Ploučnicí.
The verdict is not final. The defendants and the representative of the injured boy kept a deadline for a possible appeal. The public prosecutor kept the deadline due to damages. This was set at the amount of 60,000 crowns, which the attackers are to pay to the victim, and 18,650 crowns, which are to go to the injured insurance company.
The main trial was held behind closed doors, the public could participate until the verdict was announced.
The defendants, aged 15 and 16, pleaded guilty. According to the judge, they regretted their act. One of the juveniles was given a prison sentence of 14 months with a conditional suspension of 20 months, the other an 18-month prison sentence with a conditional suspension of two years. The first juvenile will be supervised by a probation officer, the judge ordered the second to complete an educational program at an educational care center.
According to the court, the juveniles committed disorderly conduct and extortion. One of them was also charged with theft and the other with attempted bodily harm.
The incident between classmates happened on September 2 last year. CNN Prima News then published a video of the attack. It was evident from the picture that there were several children and young people at the scene. The attacked boy knelt down, another punched him repeatedly in the head and then started kicking him with another actor. The others watched the incident passively. In addition, the defendants demanded that the victim apologize. Although he did so, they continued to beat him.
Criminal investigators later identified all the actors, charged two of them, and at the end of January sent a proposal to file an indictment with the public prosecutor’s office.
The beaten boy ended up in the hospital with a slight concussion. The judge said his behavior changed after the attack. “He felt very humiliated. That it happened in front of so many children. He continued to meet those children at school, saying that there were people there whom he expected would probably help him,” said the judge, according to whom the minor began to revolt after the attack.
A juvenile is a person who has reached the age of 15, but has not yet turned 18. Juveniles can be prosecuted, and face half the sentence compared to adults. The attackers faced up to four years in prison.
