Crushing criticism of the Polish justice system, Poles addicted to painkillers, the mysterious big cat that roams the countryside near Opole and Queen of the Snow Justyna!
Press reviewed by Elzbieta Krajewska
Starting with a devastating report in RZECZPOSPOLITA on what Poles think about courts and prosecutors. The daily writes that research commissioned by the Ministry of Justice on the threshold of a planned reform of the justice system has shown that 44 percent of the population believe that the justice system is a failure. One in three Poles does not trust courts, judges and prosecutors. One in every two Poles says that the worst problem is corruption, followed by complicated procedures and bureaucracy. More than 70 percent of respondents say that sentences are unjust, courts are inefficient, biased and plagued by delays. However, Poles still trust legal advisers and the police, writes RZECZPOSPOLITA.
Another chilling report in DZIENNIK which writes that Poles top the list in the EU (and are third in the world) in the use of painkillers. Seventy percent of the population take over-the-counter analgesics because only 20 percent say that their pain problems were solved by a doctor. Several thousand land in hospital every year because of overdosing painkillers. DZIENNIK cites the case of a 46-year-old woman who bled to death because she had been taking five different kinds of remedies at once against her rheumatism. “People believe advertisements” writes the daily “and think that ‘intelligent’ headache pills only help headaches, so they take this for migraine, that for a cold and add something else for backache. They go to different doctors and don’t tell one about medicines prescribed by another; then they buy over-the-counter painkillers as well”.
GAZETA WYBORCZA has a story about what it calls “e-discrimination” or Polish problems with buying over the internet from shops abroad. Among the worst offenders are iTunes and Amazon. GAZETA WYBORCZA readers have added to the list Eurostar train tickets, which you can buy however, if you register yourself at the address of Buckingham Palace, SW1A 1AA, writes the paper, also reporting that the discriminatory procedures have caught the eye of the European Commission.
Over to tabloid FAKT for a report on the mysterious cat-like beast which has been seen (and filmed) roaming the countryside near Opole. The creature has killed a number of pigs at one farm, as well as other animals. The footage shows an animal resembling a puma – or a snow leopard, adds another tabloid, SUPEREXPRESS, which also wonders if this is the same big cat that was seen near Kraków in the autumn.
And finally, what looks like being the top front-page story in all of the papers: world skiing champion Justyna Kowalczyk after her triumphant race in Falun, Sweden and final win over classification leader Petra Majdic of Slovenia. “The Queen of Skis” headlines RZECZPOSPOLITA, joined by “Fantastic Justyna” in DZIENNIK, “Crystal Justyna, queen of Polish sports” in GAZETA WYBORCZA, “Crystal globes for Justyna” in SUPEREXPRESS and “Justyna, Queen of the Snow” in FAKT.