The deceased Piotr Majchrzak as featured on his school ID card
In an unprecedented lawsuit, parents of a martial law victim killed by communist militia are seeking one million zloty damages for the death of their son. Parents of a 19-year old boy killed by communist militia during the martial law 27 years ago, are seeking one million zloty (about 280 thousand US dollars) damages. Large sums in damages have been granted in similar cases in Romania.
In 1982, Piotr Majchrzak was 19 years old. He attended an agriculture school and was active in peaceful anti-communist resistance movement, distributing leaflets and underground press. On the 11th of May 1982, in the middle of the martial law imposed by the country by Wojciech Jaruzelski, Piotr was attacked and severely beaten up by the communist militia on a street in Poznań. He never regained consciousness and died a week later in hospital.
Communist authorities covered up the crime, discontinued investigations on the case, declaring the boy died, because he was attacked by a drunkard with an umbrella... Perpetrators of the crime never faced justice, and the family was threatened and persecuted from the start. But the family never gave up their efforts to reveal the truth about their son's death. Opening the case after 27 years, the family lawyer Aleksandra Graf said there is new evidence - a recording of an eye witness, who saw the attack.
According to the current Polish law, living victims of communist repression may seek damages of up to 25 thousand zloty (currently 7 thousand US dollars). No limit has been set in the case of those who were killed.
Click on the audio icon to listen to the report by Krystyna Kołosowska.