Appellate court makes decision final: Zycie must apologize to Kwasniewski

The Warsaw Appellate Court has ruled that President Aleksander Kwasniewski's reputation was damaged when a 1998 article appearing in the daily Zycie falsely suggested that he had close contacts with Russian agent Vladimir Alganov. The court upheld a lower court's decision based on its conclusions that Zycie's story did not prove beyond doubt Kwasniewski had received a visit by Alganov at a holiday spa resort in Cetniewo and that this alone would not constitute reason to believe the two had a close personal relationship, as the article contended. Several journalists have expressed apprehension at the ruling. Piotr Gabryel, deputy editor in chief of Wprost magazine, said the verdict made him uneasy because he thought the authors of the article had done all they could to produce an unbiased story, based on credible sources and sound evidence. "I begin to wonder what a journalist must do to be found objective," he said. Zycie has been asked to formally apologize to the president. (Zycie, p.1) J.K.