Former communist leader General Wojciech Jaruzelski has announced that he will not be attending the beatification of the late Pope John Paul II in Rome on May 1.

The news follows heated debate in Poland as to whether it is appropriate for the former president to attend what is the penultimate stage of the process by which the late pontiff is made a saint.

Referring to “certain voices in politics and the press,” Jaruzelski told the Polish Press Agency (PAP)  that  he wanted to avoid creating  ‘a pretext for yet more sensationalistic information and tendentious interpretation.’

Jaruzelski added that his health was likewise not at its best, a further factor in prompting him to make the declaration.

However, the former president stressed his personal role in mediating with the Pope during the twilight years of the Cold War and its aftermath.

‘I had eight direct talks with John Paul II,” Jaruzelski expressed, adding that three of those were after he had retired from politics.

Nevertheless, Jaruzelski was up before the judiciary again this week for his role in the installation of Martial Law in December 1981. The case, which began in September 2008 and was adjourned a year later due to the ill health of one of the general’s co-defendants, is now up and running again..

Several thousand Poles were interned during the clampdown, and about 100 perished. Since 1989, Jaruzelski has always claimed that he introduced Martial Law so as to prevent an invasion by Moscow, an argument that has failed to convince many historians.

A recent poll by the Homo Homini Institute suggested that 61 percent of Poles believed that Jaruzelski should be invited to the ceremony.

Source: PAP