Former President Lech Walesa demands an apology from President Lech Kaczynski, who publicly said that Walesa was an agent of the secret police during communist times.
"The world has acknowledged my achievements and you are humiliating yourself and the Polish people," wrote Lech Walesa in a letter to President Kaczynski.
The letter is Walesa's answer to a statement made by Kaczynski during a televised interview on 4 June, when he said that he is sure that Walesa was the secret 1970s communist collaborator "Bolek". Kaczynski admitted that Walesa was leading the nation in the 80s, but this does not mean that one cannot say the truth about him.
Lech Walesa was outraged by his successor's words. He wrote in the letter that the President violated his personal rights yet again. He reminded that Kaczynski had already lost cases in court for calling Walesa an agent. The former President demands an apology within seven days in the same television programme, otherwise he will go to court.
In the interview, Lech Kaczynski said that being a live legend should not protect anyone. According to him, Walesa's life is not free from mistakes, and the nation has a right to know the truth.
Walesa featured as "Bolek" in 1992 on the so-called Macierewicz's List of secret collaborators with the Communist regime in Poland. In 2002 it was ruled that the former president was not, in fact, a secret agent for the communists.
A forthcoming book, penned by Slawomir Cenckiewicz and Piotr Gontarczyk, two historians from the Institute of National Remembrance (IPN), is said to contain details of formerly unknown documents concerning Walesa's alleged contacts with the Communist secret services in the 1970s.
Lech Walesa was the co-founder of the Solidarity trade union, received the Nobel Peace Prize in 1983 and served as President of Poland from 1990 to 1995. He is one of the few Poles known all around the world. (mo)