Special services avoid investigation in website censorship case
PR dla Zagranicy
John Beauchamp
11.07.2011 16:04
A district prosecutor in Sieradz, central Poland, has refused to set in motion proceedings against the Internal Security Agency (ABW), after it was claimed that the organisation had overstepped its powers by raiding a satirist’s apartment.
Robert Frycz, author of antykomor.pl. Photo: PAP/Grzegorz Jakubowski
In May this year, agents raided an apartment belonging to Robert Frycz in the central Polish town of Tomaszow Mazowiecki. Apart from detaining Frycz, a number of computer hard-drives and laptops were confiscated during the raid.
Frycz was taken into custody for running a satirical website called antykomor.pl, a portal which satirises President Komorowski, and on which users used to be able to play a game called ‘Komor Killer’.
The website was briefly shut down amidst claims that the portal illegally defamed the president.
After the arrest, however, President Bronislaw Komorowski said that not only had he been unaware of the operation, but as a former dissident, he would defend the right of Mr Frycz to freedom of expression.
Robert Frycz filed a complaint in Warsaw in late May, citing an abuse of power by the ABW. After being passed to the office of a district prosecutor in Sieradz, it now appears that there will be no further investigation into the matter. (nh/jb)
Source: IAR