Polish Court Convicts Police In 1981 Slayings
WARSAW, Poland — A court yesterday convicted 15 police officers of shooting dead nine miners who were protesting a communist crackdown on the Solidarity movement in Poland in 1981.
The decision drew loud applause from the courtroom in Katowice. Many in court sang the Polish national anthem, despite calls from Judge Monika Sliwinska for order.
The court ruled that police division leader Romuald Cieslak gave the order to open fire during protests at the Wujek and Manifest Lipcowy mines in December 1981, killing nine miners and wounding 25.
Judge Sliwinska called the trial "one of the most difficult ... and painful" stemming from 18 months of martial law, during which 100 were killed.
She added that despite the verdict, "all of the mechanisms and decisions taken on the use of firearms against striking miners will probably never be fully clarified."
