Deja vu for Jaskiernia as courts charge him with lying about communist past

According to the courts, Jaskiernia was a member of the communist secret service during the 1970s, a fact he tried to conceal while undergoing compulsory vetting to which all Sejm deputies are subjected. However, Jaskiernia denied the claim, saying, "This is a harming and wrongful verdict. I announce once again I was not a secret associate of communist intelligence." His lawyers have announced they will appeal, with Jaskiernia already having been twice cleared of the same charges in 2002. Jaskiernia declared that while he did prepare a report for the security services in the 1970s following a visit to the USA, he only did so as it was demanded of him by the authorities, and he had had no say in how the report was used. (Rzeczpospolita, p. A1) A.K.