Poland

New York, June 23, 2004—The Polish Supreme Court yesterday upheld the three-month jail sentence of a journalist found guilty of libeling a local official in November 2003 and ordered that he be jailed immediately.

Andrzej Marek, editor in chief of the weekly Wiesci Polickie (Police News) in the western town of Police, was convicted in November 2003 of libeling Piotr Misilo, then the appointed speaker of the Promotion and Information Unit of the Police City Council, in two articles published in Wiesci Polickie in February 2001. The articles accused Misilo of obtaining his post through blackmail and using it to promote his private advertising business.

New York, March 23, 2004—The prison sentence of a journalist convicted of libeling a local official has been postponed after a large group of journalists protested the imprisonment.

Andrzej Marek, editor-in-chief of the weekly Wiesci Polickie (Police News) in the western Polish town of Police, was convicted in November 2003 of libeling Piotr Misilo, then the appointed speaker of the Promotion and Information Unit of the Police City Council, in two articles that were published in Wiesci Polickie in February 2001. The articles accused Misilo of obtaining his post through blackmail and using his public post to promote his private advertising business.

New York, February 12, 2004—The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) is deeply concerned about Andrzej Marek, editor-in-chief of the weekly Wiesci Polickie (Police News) in the western Polish town of Police, who may be sent to jail for three months for refusing to apologize to a local official who has accused the journalist of defamation. According to local news reports, he has until tomorrow to appeal the court decision.