Solidarity activist cleared of spying

After a court cleared her of charges of spying on her colleagues at an underground opposition newspaper during Poland's communist period, Małgorzata Niezabitowska, a spokesperson for the country's first post-communist government in 1989 and 1990, gave the victory sign and said: "I am a happy person today. The court has made a just and independent decision."

The court found that accusations against  Niezabitowska, first presented by a former colleague, to be unsupported. It said that secret police files which seemed to prove that she had collaborated with the communist secret services (SB) under the pseudonym "Nowak," may have been forged by a secret service agent.

Historians say the Niezabitowska ruling raises questions about the reliability of evidence in the SB's files, which are often the basis for such allegations.

Moreover, many Poles have voiced anger that while former SB informants have become victims of a campaign to out them, the secret service officers themselves are going unpunished. Often, informants were forced to cooperate by harassment and blackmail.

Just after the court's ruling, Prime Minister Jarosław Kaczyński confirmed that he would soon introduce measures to punish SB officers instead of their informers. (Reuters)