Walesa holding illegal docs?

24th July 2010

© PD Walesa published classified documents on his website Share:

Lech Walesa could find himself under criminal investigation after he published allegedly classified documents on his website.

The former president and Solidarity hero posted a memo on his internet blog that revealed, apparently, how the SB, the communist-era internal secret service, tried to keep tabs on him during the 1980s.

Dated from 1990, during Mr Walesa’s presidency, it revealed that in 1987 the SB used forged documents to buy a plot of land near Mr Walesa’s summer home in order to monitor his behaviour.

While the memo revealed the efforts the SB took to spy on Mr Walesa it could land him in court as the document may well belong to the ABW, the SB successor.

“In accordance with applicable law, all documents produced since August 1, 1990 should continue to rest in the archives,” Jacek Wygoda, from the Institute of National Remembrance, the body charged with investigating and documenting communist-era crimes, told the newspaper Rzeczpospolita.

Unlawful ownership of classified documents carries a gaol sentence of up to two years.

The publication of the memo has added weight to rumours circulating that Mr Walesa removed a number of files from the security agencies’ archives during his stint as president from 1990 to 1994.

Krzysztof Wyszkowski, a former activist, has long maintained that the ex-Solidarity leader has a number of documents in his home that he purloined during his time as the country’s leader.

He has made a number of calls for Mr Walesa’s house to be searched, and also said that he would inform the prosecutor’s office over the document published on the blog.
While it could result in a criminal prosecution, Mr Walesa may hope that the memo will help eradicate the lingering belief held by some Poles that he once worked as a communist informant.

Although no evidence has emerged to support allegations of spying, and a vetting court cleared Mr Walesa of co-operating with the SB, rumours of double dealing have persisted much to his chagrin.

In particular, the former shipyard electrician has bitterly contested allegations that he was an agent called Bolek, who spied on his peers in the anti-communist opposition during the 1970s.