Viktória Mohácsi Politician

Viktória Mohácsi (born April 1, 1975 in Berettyóújfalu) is a Hungarian politician of Romani ethnicity. Between 2004 and 2009 she was a Member of the European Parliament, one of only a small caucus of Roma MEPs (another ethnic Romani member is Lívia Járóka). She was a member of the Alliance of Free Democrats, part of the European Liberal Democrat and Reform Party). She replaced a party colleague, Gábor Demszky, on 1 December 2004. In the July 2009 European elections, she lost her seat.In 2008 in Rome she was granted the "Premio Minerva" for her activity in defense of human rights of Roma.On 21 October, Mohácsi, who has taken the lead in documenting violence toward the Roma in Hungary, received Human Rights First's 2010 annual award in New York.The Movement for Desegregation Foundation led by the former European Parliament Member Viktória Mohácsi, the leading domestic monitor of anti-Roma attacks and hate crimes documented 68 attacks, of which 12 lead to death between January 2008 and June 2010.Mohácsi attracted heavy criticism several times for indiscriminately defending Roma people even when they commit crimes. After the murder of handball player Marian Cozma by Roma men (see Veszprém stabbing) she commented on TV that "he must have provoked them". Péter Magyarády, the chairman of Cozma's handball club, confuted the assumption that Cozma made disparaging comments about the Roma. Mohácsi later apologized. In another interview she apparently found nothing wrong with Roma stealing street garbage bins, because "they know they can get money for them".In 2009, Mohácsi requested police protection due to serious threats she had received. Newspaper Népszabadság reported in February 2012 that the former Member of European Parliament Mohácsi has asked for asylum in Canada.In 2014 Damian Drăghici from Romania and Soraya Post from Sweden and Lívia Járóka from Hungary became new European Parliament members of Romani ethnicity.