The Court: Certain boundaries are blurred during protests
22:40
A court in Tychy discontinued the case of a participant in a women’s strike who shouted: “Kaczynski, what a **** you are...”. "For the protesters, the boundaries of freedom of speech are wider," explained Judge Grzegorz Kraszewski.
On Wednesday, Marek Jarocki sat on the defendant’s bench of the District Court in Tychy. He is the owner of a transport company, who in April 2020, during the first wave of the coronavirus pandemic, organized a strike of entrepreneurs in Katowice. When a few months later Julia Przyłębska’s Constitutional Court banned abortion in cases of irreversible fetal damage, Jarocki also became involved in the Women’s Strike protests.
The police accused him of breaking the law because he shouted obscene words through a megaphone. According to uniformed officers, while marching through Tychy, Jarocki allegedly shouted: “Kaczyński, what the hell are you...”, “Jarku, Jarku what the hell are you...”, or “Je... PiS.”
Initially, the court, solely on the basis of materials sent by the police, decided that the entrepreneur committed an offense and fined him 200 zł. However, Jarocki appealed against the sentence. On Wednesday, a hearing was held in this case.
There is no doubt that I used a megaphone during the protest, but contrary to what the police claim, I did not use vulgarities. I shouted ‘Kaczynski, what an uncle you are’ and ‘Go with PiS’. Perhaps the words bounced off the buildings and the policemen had a distorted message,’ Jarocki explained. He called for a remission of the proceedings or an acquittal.
However, Judge Grzegorz Kraszewski, the presiding judge, decided to discontinue the proceedings against Jarocki. He found no sign of wrongdoing in his behavior. What’s more, the judge did not even bother to decide whether the entrepreneur had shouted “c...” or “uncle”.
