Journalist charged over swiping secret police records
PR dla Zagranicy
Nick Hodge
19.07.2012 13:50
A Polish journalist has been charged with the theft of Cold War-era secret police records from a state-backed institute.
Robert W. (full name withheld under Polish law) has admitted to the crime, and could face a prison sentence of between six months and eight years.
According to the Institute of National Remembrance (IPN), the state-backed body that is charged with investigating crimes against Polish citizens, the thefts took place at one of their reading rooms between March and August 2010.
The Cold War-era documents concern the alleged cooperation of Andrzej K. with Poland's communist era secret police.
Robert W. is accused of removing nine photographs and the original copy of a document in which Andrzej K. apparently signed up as an informant.
The journalist copied the material and uploaded it onto the internet.
IPN has managed to recover the document but not the photographs.
The institute has been at the heart of a series of controversial cases in recent years. Documents held by IPN have been used to out a string of alleged former communist collaborators, ranging from writer Ryszard Kapuscinski to Solidarity legend Lech Walesa. (nh)