Damaged Pawiak elm tree; Photo - Grzegorz Jakubowski

Thirty one year-old Tomasz P. faces up to ten years in jail after being arrested early yesterday morning on charges of damaging a memorial tree at the infamous WW II Pawiak prison in Warsaw.

The man is accused of damaging wreathes, flowers and cards with the names of victims who died in the notorious Nazi German prison during the war.

Police spokesman Mariusz Mrozek said that “the monument is of special importance to Polish history. The man faces punishment of between one to ten years in prison.”

Psychiatric tests have determined that the man is not mentally ill and was sober at the time of the crime. He was caught at the prison around 2.30 am yesterday morning after a short chase by police.

Around 300,000 prisoners - many from the WW II Home Army resistance - passed through the prison on their way to Nazi death and concentration camps. Many tens of thousands were also killed at the prison itself. (pg)