A man has been sentenced to 25 years for murder in an infamous case in which he and three others were accused of eating the body of the victim, who has never been identified. However, the other men on trial were acquitted due to the statute of limitations expiring for the crime of violating a corpse.
The incident in question took place in 2002, when a group of friends were drinking in the village of Łasko, northwest Poland (pictured above). One of them, Robert M. (surnames are withheld under Polish law until sentences are binding) got into an altercation with another man, reports the Polish Press Agency (PAP).
Robert M. then – according to an account given by one of those involved, Rafał O. – took the man by car to a nearby lake, where he ordered Zbigniew B. to kill him by cutting his neck with a knife. He then lit a fire, cooked the victim’s body parts on it, and ordered the others to eat them as part of a “pact” to ensure their silence.
To pierwsza sprawa o kanibalizm w powojennej Polsce. Pięciu mężczyzn miało zamordować, a potem zjeść swoją ofiarę. Problem w tym, że do dziś nie wiadomo kim ona była, a twardych dowodów w tej sprawie brak. O kulisach tej sprawy piszemy z @alicja_wirwicka https://t.co/ZLJOg4gVhv
— Mateusz Baczyński (@matbaczynski) February 22, 2021
The crime remained secret until 2017, when Zbigniew B. died and police received an anonymous tip-off that, before his death, he had confessed to the crime, reported Polsat News.
At the trial, which began this year and was Poland’s first postwar court case relating to cannibalism, lawyers for Robert M. and the other defendants argued that Rafał O.’s testimony could not be trusted as he has a mental illness (reportedly schizophrenia) and is an alcoholic.
They also noted that no remains of the victim or any other physical evidence were ever discovered. Indeed, the victim has never been identified.
Znamy wyrok jednej z głośniejszych spraw w Polsce.
Więcej informacji już wkrótce na https://t.co/e05yBHV83Bhttps://t.co/hTAGM7pMJI#szczecin #ważne #proceskanibali— gs24.pl (@gs24_pl) September 27, 2021
However, today the district court in Szczecin found Robert M. guilty and sentenced him to 25 years, as requested by prosecutors. The judge, Tomasz Banaś, said that, despite “some inaccuracies” in recalling events from two decades ago, Rafał O.’s testimony was credible, reports Onet.
Banaś also noted that the defendants had been overheard by police making what appeared to be references to the crime in question. The court also found that the acts of cannibalism had taken place as part of a “conspiracy of silence” to hide the crime.
However, the other three men on trial were acquitted of violating a corpse because the statute of limitations for that crime had expired. The verdicts are not yet binding and can still be appealed by both defendants and prosecutors.
Main image credit: Cezary Aszkielowicz / Agencja Gazeta
Daniel Tilles is editor-in-chief of Notes from Poland. He has written on Polish affairs for a wide range of publications, including Foreign Policy, POLITICO Europe, EUobserver and Dziennik Gazeta Prawna.
