Sentence imposed on local newspaper editor provokes outrage

The reporters, along with representatives of human rights organizations, place a cage borrowed from Warsaw Zoo, in front of the Sejm and are taking turns to sit in it for 30-minutes shifts. The first to be "imprisoned" were Mariusz Ziomecki, editor-in-chief of Super Express, initiator of the action and his main competitor Grzegorz Jankowski from Fakt. "This is not just for show," stressed TVP's main news anchorwoman Jolanta Pieńkowska. Andrzej Goszczyński, the head of Observatory for the Freedom of Media, said that the regulation under which the judge sentenced Andrzej Marek is "anachronistic and stupid". "Those who are responsible for such regulations should be exhibited here in this cage, not the journalists," exclaimed Maciej Rybiński (Rzeczpospolita). Marek is scheduled to start his three-month imprisonment today, but first a court will consider his motion to suspend the sentence. (Gazeta Wyborcza, p. 4; www.onet.pl) M.K.