Kaczynski ordered to apologise to press giant
PR dla Zagranicy
John Beauchamp
08.07.2011 10:22
An appeal court in Warsaw has ruled that Jaroslaw Kaczynski, leader of the conservative Law and Justice party (PiS), must apologise to a leading Polish media group for likening one of its dailies a communist era newspaper.
The long-running case stems back to September 2007 when, in an interview with the centre-right Rzeczpospolita paper, Kaczynski compared the liberal Gazeta Wyborcza daily to the famed communist mouthpiece Trybuna Ludu (The People’s Tribune).
Kaczynski went on to say that “Poland’s economy is in no small part in the hands of former communist oligarchs,” and implied that Agora, Wyborcza’s parent company, was compromised by taking adverts from such sources.
The court ruled yesterday that Kaczynski must publish an apology on the front page of Rzeczpospolita, outlining his regret for what the court described as “false, defamatory allegations” against the company, which “threaten its good name, credibility and reputation.”
Kaczynski has always maintained his right to freedom of speech. Yesterday, following the ruling, his lawyer Antoni Lepkowski said that they would launch an appeal with the Supreme Court, and if that failed, “we are counting on Strasbourg alone.”
Theoretically, Kaczynski’s apology should be published within seven days of the ruling. (nh/jb)
Source: PAP