A man has been detained by police in Poland on suspicion of “offending religious feelings”, a crime that carries a potential prison sentence of up to two years. He is alleged to be the person responsible for this week’s destruction of a roadside cross in the city of Zielona Góra.
The incident took place on Monday, and drew widespread attention after images of the damage were posted on social media followed by a video showing a man chopping down the cross with an electric saw.
Right-wing commentators, media and politicians in particular expressed outrage. Many sought to draw links to recent remarks by an opposition MP, Sławomir Nitras, who declared that Catholics in Poland should have their privileges “sawn off”.
This is what “calling for the ‘sawing of Catholics’ looks like in practice”, said Daniel Liszkiewicz, a news editor at TVP, the state broadcaster, which is a mouthpiece for the national-conservative ruling Law and Justice (PiS) party.
Last night, police arrested a 31-year-old man on suspicion of the crime. They are still seeking to “determine his motives”, said police spokesman Marcin Maludy, quoted by Gazeta Lubuska.
Policjanci z Zielonej Góry w wyniku intensywnych działań operacyjnych ustalili i zatrzymali 31-letniego mężczyznę,który może odpowiadać za zniszczenie krzyża na Os.Zastalowskim.Trwają czynności procesowe z jego udziałem.@PolsatNewsPL @tvn24 @tvp_info @radiozachod @gazetalubuska pic.twitter.com/I56Sw4KjeT
— Marcin Maludy 🇵🇱 💯 (@Marcin_Maludy) October 19, 2021
Proceedings in the case are being conducted under article 196 of Poland’s criminal code, reports TVP. This blasphemy law makes it illegal to “offend the religious feelings of another person by publicly insulting an object of religious worship or a place intended for the public performance of religious rites”.
That crime, which carries a potential prison sentence of up to two years, has long been on the books in Poland. However, commentators have noted a rise in its use under the current PiS-led government, which has made defending Poland’s Catholic heritage a cornerstone of its policies and rhetoric.
After Nitras’s remarks about “sawing off” Catholics’ privileges, the PiS education minister, Przemysław Czarnek, claimed that one of the goals of Civic Platform (PO), the largest opposition party, is to “de-Christianise Poland”. PO’s leader, Donald Tusk, is a practising Catholic, though he has criticised PiS’s blurring of the lines between church and state.
Last year, 29 indictments were filed under Poland’s blasphemy law, compared to ten in the whole of 2016. This year, a musician, Adam Darski (known by his stage name “Nergal”), was convicted of offending religious feeling by stamping on a picture of the Virgin Mary. He has contested that ruling.
In a separate case, three LGBT activists were in March found not guilty of the same crime for producing and distributing images of the Virgin Mary and Jesus with rainbow colours added to their halos.
In August, prosecutors announced that they were seeking to bring a man to trial for offending religious sentiment during an incident in which he entered a church wearing a hat. The justice minister is also seeking to have an opposition MP stripped of her parliamentary immunity to face charges for protesting in a church.
Main image credit: YouTube (screenshots)
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.
