Relations between Roma and non-Roma have been historically tense, particularly since the fall of Communism, when the factories where many Roma were employed closed, and they descended to a new level of grinding poverty. In the 2010 elections, the far-right nationalist movement Jobbik won 17 percent of the popular vote by stirring up anger and distrust of Roma, repeating the mantra of "Gypsy crime" to the point where many voters attribute theft to be one of their genetic traits. During the trial, it was suggested by the prosecutors that the killers intended to provoke Roma communities into retaliating violently, thus triggering an inter-ethnic conflict.

Judit Lang, a journalist for the Nepszava newspaper surmises the problem:

"These victims were not the usual unemployed, criminal Roma stereotype. They were honest, hard-working families who didn't live on handouts. In everyday Hungarian slang, the phrase 'don't gypsy' is very common -- it means don't lie or cheat. This country is divided on every topic, except hatred for the Roma."

As life sentences were handed down to Peto and the brothers Kiss, a small cheer and ripple of applause rang out among the victims' family and supporters in the viewing rooms, shortly followed by a thunderous exclamation of disbelief and anger as Csontos was let off with just 13 years for his part as the getaway driver. A case defined by the blundering behavior of the police, Istvan Kiss was being monitored by the security services but had his surveillance dropped a couple of months before embarking on their killing spree. Csontos was working as an informant to military intelligence even while he chauffeured the death squad around the country.

Sitting in a café on Budapest's main thoroughfare Rakoczi ut, Roma civil rights activist Jeno Setet's voice rises above the roaring traffic:

"In Hungary, we like to point to the far right, but that is too easy. The politicians and journalists from left to right are responsible for whipping up this Roma sentiment in the country, and they are not in court. These killings could happen again but, in a way, it happens every day. Nobody talks about the economic genocide taking place here; some parents have not worked in the last twenty years, their children are excluded from a good education, and so their fate is sealed."

In a bar a few meters around the corner from the court, posters of the uniformed Hungarian Guard -- the banned vigilante group known for conducting violent and intimidating marches in Roma neighborhoods -- adorn the walls, and nationalist rock music blares out of the stereo. A man wearing a t-shirt saying "Freedom for the National Socialists" was, earlier that morning, queuing up outside the courthouse to show solidarity with the killers. He doesn't want to give an interview but ends up sharing some thoughts about the case anyway.