In the spotlight: Wojciech Jaruzelski

First, it turned out that President Kaczyński had awarded the general with the Cross of Exiles to Siberia, which Jaruzelski greeted as a kind gesture with which the President overcame political divisions. However, when the news of the award was made public, the President and his Chancellery claimed that Jaruzelski ended up on the list by mistake. The general therefore returned the medal.

Not only was he not meant to receive the medal, but a few days later prosecutors filed charges against the former communist leader for a breach of the former constitution by declaring martial law and running a "criminal group of military nature which perpetrated crimes that consisted of deprivation of freedom." The 82-year-old Jaruzelski could face up to 11 years in jail.

The general remains a controversial figure in Polish history. Some view his decision to declare martial law on December 13, 1981 as the move that saved Poland from Soviet intervention, while others claim that it was just a play by the regime to regain a full grip on power after the founding of Solidarity a year earlier.

Nevertheless, Jaruzelski, who in 1956 became the youngest general in the Polish army, was the Minister of Defense when Polish troops took part in the 1968 invasion of Czechoslovakia as well as in 1970 when the army opened fire on striking workers in the coastal cities of Gdańsk, Gdynia, Szczecin and Elbląg,