Compensation claim by repatriated Lithuanian thrown out by Gdansk court

The Gdansk district court has rejected the lawsuit of 73-year old Andrzej Czerniewski, who sought zl. 488,000 in compensation for property which he lost when he was repatriated after the war. He had owned property near Vilnius, an area which after the war became part of the Lithuanian Soviet Republic, while he and his family were repatriated to Lidzbark Warminski, to territories newly added to Poland. Under a 1944 agreement between the Communist Polish National Liberation Committee (PKWN) and the Lithuanian Soviet Republic, Poland agreed to pay compensation for property abandoned by those who were repatriated. However, the Gdansk court ruled that these international agreements were never ratified or officially published and as such cannot be considered as binding under Polish law. Czerniewski declared that he would appeal, claiming that public repatriation announcements signed by the chief plenipotentiary of the provisional government of the Republic of Poland included a promise of compensation for property. His attorney, Roman Nowosielski, added that his case and many similar claims would e ventually be resolved by the Supreme Court. (Zycie, p.5) T.J.