Today is World Press Freedom Day. Poland is seen as a free and democratic country. The trial of journalist and pastor Pawel Chojecki shows the true reality of Catholic, post-communist Poland. Here is a report on the testimony of the three pastors in the Lublin Court of Appeals.
Pastor Pawel Chojecki, founder and editor-in-chief of Against the Tide TV, was screened by the Prosecutor’s Office for what he says in the Protestant church he leads and in his journalistic programs. Based on a meticulous combing through hundreds of hours of Pastor’s sermons and journalism, Minister Ziobro’s Lublin Prosecutor’s Office invented a dozen sentences that matched paragraphs restricting freedom of speech in Poland. The bizarre trial, which has been going on for four years, began. The first-instance court sentenced Pastor Chojecki (Judge Andrzej Klimkowski) to eight months of restriction of liberty and payment of more than 20,000 zlotys in legal costs. Pastor and the Prosecutor’s Office have filed appeals. Both Pastor Chojecki wants an acquittal, the Prosecution wants a prison sentence for his words.
In recent days, the Lublin Court of Appeals held a hearing for three pastors who had to explain what Protestants believe. See coverage of the scandal here:
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