Grzegorz Przemyk
was a promising
young poet
before his death.
Polish Dissident's Killer Sentenced After 25 Years - Poland Surprised.
Warsaw, Poland - May 31, 2008 A Warsaw court on Tuesday sentenced a Polish communist-era policeman to four years in prison for the 1983 killing of a young dissident, overturning a history of four acquittals in the same case over the years. Ireneusz K., a former member of communist Poland's infamous ZOMO riot police units, was found guilty of the fatal beating of 19-year-old Grzegorz Przemyk, the son of dissident poet Barbara Sadowska and a promising talent in his own rights. Przemyk was beaten at the police station on ul. Jezuicka after being stopped celebrating passing his matura school-leaving exam near the Royal Castle. Przemyk's case became a symbol of resistance, and his funeral turned into a massive demonstration against the communist authorities.
The verdict was a surprise to Przemyk's family, who had seen the case intentionally covered up by the communist regime and then retried several times due to stonewalling by the suspects. Famously, former Interior Minister Czeslaw Kiszczak was recorded as telling prosecutors in the original investigation to only focus on the responsibility of paramedics who finally delivered Przemyk to hospital, and to ignore any leads related to the policemen. Though happy with the verdict, Przemyk's father, Leopold Przemyk, believes justice has not yet been served.
"Only the sword has been punished, and not the hand that held it," he said after the court announced its decision.
Presiding judge Monika Niezabitowska-Nowakowska said that the verdict was made possible by new evidence that was not known to the courts that had acquitted Ireneusz K.
"Grzegorz Przemyk was massacred, not just beaten," she said in justifying the decision. "Ireneusz K. could and should have known the consequences of forceful blows he was delivering to the victim. Przemyk...could only have been saved by immediate medical aid, which did not appear."
However, she said the beating could not be classified as a communist crime, since the policemen could not have known Przemyk's or his family's dissident views, and that the beating they gave him was not politically motivated.
This article copyright by the New Warsaw Express. You are invited to read more at New Warsaw Express
