Jaruzelski claims trial over 1970 protesters' deaths is politically motivated

Appearing in a Warsaw court yesterday, former Defense Minister Wojciech Jaruzelski claimed that his trial in connection with the deaths of protesting workers in 1970 was politically motivated and designed to humiliate him. The general insisted that the workers' protests in December 1970 were marked by a strong "destructive and criminal tendency." He said a large number of the people detained during the events had a criminal record. They broke into shops and brutally attacked the army and police, and so were contributing considerably to the events. Jaruzelski went on to blame former communist leaders, including Wladyslaw Gomulka, Zenon Kliszko and General Grzegorz Korczynski, for the tragic course of events. (Rzeczpospolita, p. C1) P.W.