The first witnesses in the blackmail affair involving senator Krzysztof Piesiewicz – also an acclaimed screenwriter – were heard in a Warsaw court Tuesday morning.

The entire process is being conducted behind closed doors, with testimonies from the case cited as classified.

In December 2009, Piesiewicz (pictured right), chiefly known in the West for his long-running artistic collaboration with film director Krzysztof Kieslowski, was featured in tabloid Super Express in a compromising video that showed the senator attired in a dress, snorting a white powder in the company of prostitutes.

Piesiewicz denied that he was taking illegal drugs in the film, but confessed to having met with the women on several occasions.

The senator claimed that in an attempt to keep the matter private, he had paid the women on two occasions. However, when they demanded further money - allegedly to the sum of 500,000 zloty (125,000 euro) - he refused. The video was subsequently leaked to the press.

Ten witnesses were summoned for today’s hearing. Mr Piesiewicz was not present, and he is not obliged to appear in court. His lawyer, Czeslaw Jaworski expressed that his client had already provided testimonies for the case, and that he is ill today.

According to the court, relations from the process are being kept classified as they “violate the important concern of privacy.”

Piesiewicz, a former lawyer, rose to prominence in the early eighties defending Solidarity activists. He resigned his membership of the Civic Platform in the wake of the revelations, but continued his work as a senator. (nh/jb)

Source: PAP