WARSAW, Poland—Poland’s former President Lech Walesa and some
opposition politicians said Wednesday the Nobel Peace prize winner is
being harassed by the ruling party, following an announcement that
prosecutors are investigating whether he made false statements during
sworn testimony.
In the testimony several months ago, Walesa denied that he wrote or
signed recently found communist-era documents that suggest he was a paid
informant for the communists in the 1970s. He said they were forged.
Critics of the new investigation, announced by prosecutors on
Tuesday, contend that it is a new step by the governing Law and Justice
party to diminish Walesa’s status as leader and hero of the country’s
pro-democracy Solidarity movement of the 1980s.
Walesa insisted anew on Wednesday that he “never collaborated with
any communist-era services, I was never on the communist side.”
He said the ruling party is “trying to carry out a political crime” against him, but will fail.
Polish political icon Lech Walesa, pictured in 2010, says he's being persecuted by powerful members of the Polish government. (MEDEF / Flickr)(CC-BY-SA)
