The Court of Appeal in Wroclaw has upheld the twenty five years prison sentence for Krystian Bala, the man who murdered his ex-wife’s lover in a manner described in a novel he wrote.

Bala is the author of the fiction novel Amok, which describes in great detail a murder committed by a character called Chris. Because of the resemblance between the imaginary crime and the real one, as well as similarities between the author and the main character, the book served as evidence in the trial, where only circumstantial evidence was presented by the prosecution.

But it was enough to put Krystian Bala behind bars.  

The author of Amok is charged with killing Dariusz J. on 13 November 2000, “with extraordinary cruelty and for particularly deplorable reasons”.

Bala, who suspected Dariusz J. of having an affair with his ex-wife, kidnapped him, starved him for three days, tied him up and threw him into the Odra river in south west Poland, where Dariusz J. drowned.  

Bala was not able to provide a concrete alibi for what he was doing between 13 and 17 November 2000, when the murder occurred.

He was subsequently charged with murder and sentenced to twenty five years in prison. After appeal, appealed from the court’s ruling but today the Court of Appeal in Wroclaw upheld the decision.  (mg/pg)