SLD demands public apology from Wprost over mafia links story

The Democratic Left Alliance (SLD) has filed a suit to the Warsaw District Court against the chief editor of Wprost weekly, Marek Król, and journalist Wojciech Sumliński, the author of an article which contained the testimony of one of the main Pruszków mafia bosses, "Masa". The article contained information which associated numerous SLD members, as well as other politicians, with the Pruszków gang. "It is based on suppositions and libel," said SLD General Secretary, Marek Dyduch. The weekly charged the politicians with extorting money from companies dealing with gambling machines. The SLD demands that Król and Sumliński go on public TV and state that the accusations were based on a fabrication and donate zł. 100,000 to the Polish Red Cross. (Rzeczpospolita, p. A1) A.K.