At a hearing on January 20, 2025, the District Court in Prešov dismissed an anti-discrimination lawsuit alleging discrimination against a disadvantaged Roma child in access to education during the Covid-19 pandemic. The District Court, as the court of first instance, ruled on the case after the Court of Appeal overturned its initial decision to uphold the lawsuit and returned the case to it for a new ruling. The court of first instance, bound by the legal opinion of the appeals court, dismissed the lawsuit this time. It found that the defendant state did not treat the plaintiff in a discriminatory manner. According to the court, during an emergency situation such as the Covid pandemic, the state tried to ensure the educational process for all children in the most reasonable way possible. These were exceptional circumstances in which the protection of public health became the primary concern.  Our non-governmental organization provided free legal representation in court proceedings to the plaintiff as part of a program of strategic litigation in discrimination cases. The case highlights the disadvantages in access to digital technologies and the internet faced by certain groups in Slovak society, which are of a broader systemic nature.

The decision is not final, and the plaintiff plans to appeal it. The case will thus return to the Regional Court in Prešov.

Veronika Duždová, the plaintiff’s grandmother, said of the court’s decision:

    “I am disappointed with the court’s decision. I believe that the higher courts will rule in our favor. My granddaughter was in first grade at the time. I still think that the state did not do enough to ensure that our Roma children could receive a proper education during the COVID pandemic. “

Vanda Durbáková, the defendant’s legal representative, said of the decision:

“We will appeal the district court’s ruling. The state simply failed during the pandemic by not taking effective measures to remove the barriers to access to distance learning faced by Roma children from disadvantaged communities. We believe that the higher courts will agree with our legal arguments and uphold the lawsuit.”

We would like to thank everyone who supports our strategic litigation, with special thanks to the Digital Freedom Fund (DFF) for their support.

We have issued a press release on the court’s decision, which you can read here.

You can read the judgment of the Prešov District Court here.