After court in Szczecin decided to lift a sentence against two young women, found guilty of sunbathing topless, can we expect more nudity on Polish beaches?
Elzbieta Krajewska reports
All the rage in its time, there is a Polish pop song which tells the story of the trials and tribulations of nudists (or naturists) convening at the small Baltic resort of Chalupy. Some twenty years on, Chałupy is now the home of windsurfers rather than sunworshippers, while getting an all-over - or perhaps merely a full-frontal - tan in Poland still seems to be fraught with danger, as two attractive young women found out in Szczecin.
On a beach last May the two removed their bikini tops – and soon had to bear with police and municipal guard patrols. The women argued that they weren’t offending anyone and refused to cover up, then refused to be fined.
In November, a court decided against the sunbathers, arguing that their behaviour had been indecent, and ordering them to pay. But, on appeal, judge Wladysława Motak from the Circuit Court in Szczecin quashed the verdict and made, dare I say it, a clean breast of things.
She announced that the women had not been behaving indecently; the fact that they had removed their bikini tops for sunbathing at a public beach was not a misdemeanour and should not have caused that reaction from police officers! The judge also said that the whole affair should never have ended up in court
The two women, who earlier had been quite happy to face reporters, this time did not make their appearance to hear the verdict. Evidently pleased lawyer, Piotr Skobel, said this had been a precedential decision and that now the verdict has legal force, women here would be able to sunbathe topless!
Perhaps in tune to another hit song, Baska, this one starting with the memory of the attributes of a former girlfriend…
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