His Excellency Aleksander Kwasniewski
President of the Republic of Poland
Office of the President
Ul. Wiejska 10
00-902 Warsaw
Poland
Fax: (+ 4822) 695 12 53
Vienna, 19 December 2005
Your Excellency,
The International Press Institute (IPI), the global network of editors, media executives and leading journalists, is concerned about recent legal actions undertaken by the Polish National Council of Credit Unions (“SKOK”), Poland’s largest financial services network, that appear to be aimed at intimidating the staff of the Polish weekly, Polityka.
In late 2004 and early 2005, Polityka published a series of articles about SKOK’s business activities. Claiming that the articles tarnished its good name, SKOK filed civil legal actions against the weekly, seeking an apology, damages of 5 million zlotys (approx. 1.3 million EUR), and a prohibition on any articles about SKOK during the life of the court case and thereafter.
IPI is informed that SKOK has now filed a complaint of criminal slander with the Public Prosecutor’s Office against journalists working for Polityka. We understand that the Public Prosecutor has asked Polityka to provide details of the e-mail accounts used by the journalists involved in writing the series of articles and has also commissioned the Central Bureau of Investigation (“CBS”), the police force responsible for combating organised crime, drug trafficking, terrorism, etc., to “undertake clarification procedures.”
Currently the proceedings initiated by the Public Prosecutor have been suspended by the court hearing the defamation case. The court has asked the Polish Constitutional Tribunal whether the provisions of the Polish Criminal Code criminalising defamation breach the Polish Constitution and/or the European Convention on Human Rights.
While IPI makes no comment on the information contained in the articles printed in Polityka, we do see a pattern of intimidation in SKOK’s actions against the weekly and urge the relevant Polish courts to carefully consider the claims so that any potential award avoids bankrupting the publication or causes a reduction in its circulation. IPI maintains that any award against a publisher that causes the publisher to cease its activity contravenes the freedom of the press. While the media should be responsible under civil law for the content of their publications, the legal system of a democratic country should not be used to silence the media.
In this connection, IPI is deeply concerned that the Public Prosecutor’s actions are aimed at circumventing the issue of journalistic confidentiality, which is enshrined in Polish law, and possibly leading to an increase in self-censorship within the news media.
Other newspapers have been affected by the widespread activities undertaken by the SKOK. Similar claims, related to eight articles published over a period of more than a year that highlight alleged business improprieties, have been filed against the daily Gazeta Wyborcza.
IPI notes that in the claims filed against Polityka there is a demand for a restraining order that would prohibit any publications about SKOK for the duration of the trial. The court’s support of such a motion would effectively constitute prior restraint or censorship, as the media organisation would be unable to publish articles about SKOK, even on subjects unrelated to the original articles at the centre of the legal actions. Unfortunately, the Polish Code of Civil Proceedings in Article 755 enables Polish courts to issue such temporary restraining orders. IPI also notes that defamation has not been decriminalised in Poland, causing further problems for the media.
The above examples are clear proof of a legal system that effectively limits the rights of citizens to transparency, control and criticism.
IPI, therefore, once again calls upon the Polish government to propose an amendment to the relevant legislation, which would prevent the issue of temporary restraining orders against the media prohibiting them from publishing articles about a given person or subject.
We thank you for your attention.
Yours sincerely,
Johann P. Fritz
Director
