Poland Keeping the Lid on Murder

(2 of 2)

After the murder, Piotrowski became less sure that he had protectors in high places. The day after Popieluszko's disappearance, Piotrowski was summoned to the office of General Zenon Platek, head of the religiousaffairs department at the Internal Affairs Ministry. What, the general demanded, did the captain * know about the case? Piotrowski said that he lied and said he knew nothing.

On the stand two days later, Pietruszka pleaded not guilty to the accusations, dismissing them as "allegations by Piotrowski." Approving such an act, he asserted, would have been inconsistent with what he called socialist humanism. Instead, he suggested that Piotrowski misunderstood his instructions and took matters into his own hands. He agreed, however, that last September he discussed with the former captain and another officer the need to take action against the political activities of some priests. Harshly criticizing Poland's Roman Catholic Church, he accused these priests of fomenting hatred toward Marxists and of being among those who "carry a cross on their breast and unequivocal hatred in their hearts."

Piotrowski took the opportunity to vent his frustration against the Catholic Church, its bishops and Father Popieluszko, hinting that the priest had had an affair with a woman. In a sometimes agitated, 30-min. harangue against the church, Piotrowski asked, "How could we keep calm when import duties in the amount of 30 million zlotys (about $231,000) were waived for priests, mostly for cars and luxury goods? How could we keep calm if, disregarding the law, schools were occupied, youth were incited and educated to hate the state?" For the secret police, he said, "there were no Sundays. Children never saw their fathers because some priests decided to make trouble for us."

During his testimony, Piotrowski requested an adjournment for the day and got it. He insisted that a noisy photographer be asked to stop taking pictures. He even reprimanded one of the five acting judges. While Piotrowski was describing a phone call received from "a friend in the branch," Judge Artur Kujawa asked for the name of the friend. Snapped Piotrowski: "There are names of many functionaries of the internal-security service mentioned here. There are Western correspondents present in the room. Could you please excuse me from answering that question?" The request was granted.