‘Racist’ Vienna policemen in court
Four Vienna policemen are accused of racially insulting a Turkish-born Austrian Olympic athlete.Viennese taekwondo star Tuncay Caliskan who came fourth in the 2000 Olympic Games and also qualified for the event four years later claims the officers verbally abused him when he tried to report an attempted assault on him in the street.Caliskan told judge Martina Hahn yesterday (Tues) the policemen called him a “fucking faggot” and a “miserable foreigner” and told him to “shut his mouth” and “get out” on the day in November 2006.The 32-year-old had entered the station in Margareten district after a drunk tried to beat him up with a baseball bat when he parked his car.One of the officers, 30, is meanwhile in early retirement over the “psychic stress” the incidence and the investigations which followed caused him.One colleague of the accused policemen said in court that Caliskan “did not react in an aggressive way”.”Im not sure whether I would have remained that calm considering what they called him,” he said.The officer accused his colleagues of having had a generally negative attitude towards the man.”They said things one should not say to a human. And they decided to insult Mr Caliskan instead of listening to what hes got to say,” he added.Prosecutors accuse one of the policemen of thinking about throwing away the baseball bat they had kept at the station after Caliskan managed to take it from the attacker in the road.One of the four accused policeman accused Caliskan of “trying to create arguments”.The trial continues on Friday when Caliskan will be questioned.