General Czeslaw Kiszczak, Poland’s Interior Minister during Martial Law, may be handed a two-year suspended sentence for a perod of five years due to his role in the quashing of the Wujek miners’ strike in 1981, in which nine workers died.

“The accused was conscious of the fact that during Martial Law there could have been social unrest on a wide scale,” Zbigniew Zieba from the Warsaw Dicstrict Court told journalists, Tuesday.

“[Kiszczak] allowed militia functionaries to use firearms, which points to the premeditation of his decisions,” Zieba continued.

The sentence comes as Kiszczak has already been through four court cases which have lasted for a combined total of 17 years. However, an appeal to the prosecutor’s decision is likely to be lodged, sources say.

According to prosecutors in the southern city of Katowice, where the Wujek coal mine is located, Kiszczak intentionally caused “widespread danger for the life and health of people” when he sent a cable to militia units on 13 December to pacify the striking miners.

The Katowice prosecution also claims that General Kiszczak gave the green light for the militia authorities to use weapons. As a result, paramilitary ZOMO units fired shots at the miners on 15 and 16 December at the Wujek and Manifest Lipcowy mines, killing nine.

Meanwhile, Czeslaw Kiszczak, who is now 85, is professing his innocence in the matter. According to him, there is no correlation between the cable and the tragic events of December 1981.

Kiszczak maintains that the cable was a reminder of the introduction of Martial Law, although the Constitutional Tribunal recently declared that the move to impose Martial Law was in fact illegal.

The motion for the defence is to take to the floor on 26 April, after which prosecutors are expected to pass their final verdict in the case. (jb)

Source: PAP