Piotrowski facing possible return to jail on charges of insulting the judiciary

The local prosecutor's office in Lodz has issued an indictment against Grzegorz Piotrowski, the man released recently after serving 15 years in jail for the murder of priest Jerzy Popieluszko. According to Maria Swietlicka, spokesperson for the District Prosecutor in Lodz, the new charges against Piotrowski relate to defaming the courts and insulting judges. In a March 9 interview with Lodz's TVP, the former captain of the communist-era secret service (SB) compared the courts to a circus and said that by refusing him early release the judges "make clowns out of themselves, and teeter on the brink of comicality." If found guilty of the charges, Piotrowski could pay a fine, or face up to two years in prison. (Gazeta Wyborcza, p. 4) P.W.