Captions accompanying a Polish exhibition at the European Parliament have been covered up, after officials concluded that the wording underneath the photos were too controversial.

The exhibition, entitled “Truth and Memory”, was organised by MEPs from the conservative Law and Justice party.

“It's a scandalous situation,” said Ryszard Czarnecki, MEP, one of the co-organisers of the exhibition.

Czarnecki's sentiments were echoed by his colleague Tomasz Poreba:

“All this is happening in an institution that so often has moral platitudes on its lips, calling for freedom of speech,” he said.

Thenews.pl’s John Beauchamp is in Brussels and reports from the exhibition, not far from one of the restaurants  at the European Parliament.




Responsibility for the decision about what the MEPs claim is censorship is held by the five so-called quaestors, each of whom represents a different country.

One of the five is a Pole, Lidia de Geringer de Oedenburg, who had been a member of the National Council of the left wing SLD party since 2008.

She told Polish Radio that the exhibition organisers failed to honour the stipulations required, sending the material just a week before the launch, rather than two months beforehand as required.

She added that the pictures speak for themselves, and that the captions were not necessary.

The awkward material includes a caption describing a Russian soldier smiling as he breaks up parts of the wreckages. Another tag cites “a body thrown onto foil at the crash site.”

However, one of the co-organisers of the show, journalist Katarzyna Hejke, says the exhibition reveals “the carelessness” with which the wreckage of the plane was treated by the Russians.

Likewise, Law and Justice MEPs deny that they broke any of the regulations.

“The investigation of such a catastrophe should be given a prominent voice in the EU,” says Ryszard Czarnecki. “This is happening before the eyes of the whole of Europe, and Europe must take notice.” (nh/pg)

updated with audio 14.09