Britain asked to extradite prosecutor accused in arrest of political activists

An arrest warrant has been issued by the National Memory Institute (IPN) for Helena Wolinska, an 81-year-old former public prosecutor who is now living in Britain. Wolinska is accused of the illegal arrest of underground political activists in the years following World War II. Among those she is said to be responsible for imprisoning are Wladyslaw Bartoszewski, the current minister of foreign affairs, who spent six and a half years in jail. Her extradition has been dragging on for three years. The first warrant was issued in August 1999, when Wolinska refused to come to Poland voluntarily for questioning. Britain is demanding legal clarification of the case against Wolinska, since the former prosecutor is now a British citizen. Wolinska denies all the charges against her, and claims that she is the victim of political and anti-Semitic bias. (Zycie, p. 4) A.K.