Justice after 26 years
Fifteen communist-era ZOMO riot policemen were sentenced to up to 11 years in prison last week for killing nine miners who were striking in protest against the imposition of martial law in 1981.
"This is good news for Polish society, good news for the public sense of justice," said Kazimierz Kutz, a film director who made a documentary about the shootings - the bloodiest incident of the martial law period. "The verdict gives justice to the people who died in 1981 and to those who were affected by those deaths," he added. As the judge read out the verdict in court, relatives of the dead miners applauded and sang the national anthem.
The incident took place on December 16, 1981, three days after martial law was declared. Riot police and army tanks broke through the barricades in front of the Wujek colliery in Katowice. As workers fought back, the police opened fire, killing nine and wounding 21.
General Wojciech Jaruzelski, the communist leader who declared martial law, and other communist leaders have also been investigated but have so far avoided bearing responsibility for the crime. They claim that the riot police exceeded orders. The convicted riot policemen had been tried twice before but had been cleared due to lack of evidence. Following appeals from the families of the dead miners, the latest trial took place.
Romuald Cielak, the leader of the ZOMO unit, received the longest sentence - 11 years imprisonment for giving the order to fire on the protesters. Other members of the unit received sentences of at least two-and-a-half years. (Reuters)
