The wife and children of an opposition activist killed by the communist security services 36 years ago have been granted 2 million zloty (almost €450,000) compensation.
On 9 February 1984, 33-year-old Piotr Bartoszcze was found dead by his brother in a drainage well close to his abandoned car. He had disappeared two days earlier while distributing underground publications, reports TVP Info. He was survived by a pregnant wife and three young daughters.
Bartoszcze, a farmer from Sławęcin in southeastern Poland, had founded a farmers’ trade union that was part of the Solidarity movement which helped topple Poland’s communist regime. In 1982, with the country under martial law, he had been interned by the communist authorities.
After his release, he continued his underground activities and remained under surveillance by the communist security services, who regularly interrogated him, according to the Institute of National Remembrance (IPN).
When his body was discovered in 1984, it showed signs of beatings and suffocation. Nevertheless, the first investigation into his death was discontinued in May of that year, after the prosecutor’s office declared that no crime had taken place. Instead, they concluded that Bartoszcze had died after a car accident caused by drink-driving.
Following the fall of communism, a second investigation was also discontinued in 1995, after insufficient evidence was found to implicate any third parties in his death. However, prosecutors noted at the time that some security service files relating to surveillance of Bartoszcze had been destroyed in the early 1990s.
At the request of the family, a third investigation was launched in 2016. As a result, the IPN – a state body charged with documenting, investigating and prosecuting communist-era crimes – concluded that Bartoszcze’s death had been caused by third parties.
The evidence indicated that he had been suffocated by material forced into his mouth. Although the IPN could not identify the individuals responsible – in part due to the destruction of files – they concluded last year that he was killed by members of the communist Security Service (SB), reports TVP3 Bydgoszcz.
Last week, in a case that took place behind closed doors, a court in the city of Bydgoszcz awarded Bartoszcze’s wife and four children 400,000 zloty compensation each. The money is to be paid by the Polish state, which can still appeal the ruling.
“We are pleased with today’s judgement because, by awarding compensation to the family, the court confirmed that he died as a result of the then state authorities,” said Katarzyna Szybowska, the family’s representative, quoted by TVN24. “His death was planned by officials of the state apparatus.”
One of Bartoszcze’s daughters, Joanna, said that the decision was important in “memory of him and his activities”. But she added that “no [amount of] money can bring back Dad’s life. He hasn’t been with us for 36 years. We grew up without a father”.
Bartoszcze’s opposition activities under communist rule have already resulted in posthumous state honours. In 2006, he was awarded the Commander’s Cross of the Order of Polonia Restituta by President Lech Kaczyński, and in 2015 he was granted the Cross of Freedom and Solidarity by President Bronisław Komorowski.
Poland’s current government has placed great emphasis on efforts to “decommunise” Poland, by removing remnants of the former regime and holding to account individuals responsible for its crimes.
Earlier this year, it lifted the statute of limitations for communist crimes. It has also moved to lower the pensions of former communist officials and raise those for opposition activists. There have also been efforts to remove street names and monuments associated with the communist era.
Critics have, however, accused the government of hypocrisy, given that the ruling Law and Justice (PiS) party has included former communists in its ranks and appointed some – including a former martial law-era prosecutor decorated by the communist authorities – to senior positions.
Main image credit: IPN Bydgoszcz/Województwo Kujawsko-Pomorski
Juliette Bretan is a freelance journalist covering Polish and Eastern European current affairs and culture. Her work has featured on the BBC World Service, and in CityMetric, The Independent, Ozy, New Eastern Europe and Culture.pl.
