Wojciech Jaruzelski off the hook 

26th February 2010

Attempts to punish General Wojciech Jaruzelski for his role in the suppression of Solidarity received an unexpected setback when the constitutional tribunal ruled a law halving his state pension was against the constitution.

The law, which slashed his pension from PLN 8,000 a month to just over PLN 4,000, had been introduced last year as a financial punishment for the general, who crushed the Solidarity-led opposition to communist control through the introduction of martial law in December 1981. 

But the constitutional tribunal ruled that the 2009 law could not cut the pensions of either Jaruzelski or any other member for the Council for National Salvation (WRON), the body charged wi ...