Press Freedom
CPJ Updates
- Israel-Gaza war brings 2023 journalist killings to devastating high
- 2023 prison census: Jailed journalist numbers near record high; Israel imprisonments spike
- Haiti joins list of countries where killers of journalists most likely to go unpunished
- Ecuador on edge: Political paralysis and spiking crime pose new threats to press freedom
- Deadly Pattern: 20 journalists died by Israeli military fire in 22 years. No one has been held accountable.
- Fragile Progress: The struggle for press freedom in the European Union
- Fragile Progress: Part 1
- Fragile Progress: Part 2
- Fragile Progress: Part 3
Reporter Without Borders
Poland November 29, 2005
H.E. Aleksander Kwsniewski
President
Office of the President
Ul. Wiejska 10
00-902 Warszawa
Republic of Poland
Fax: (011.48.22) 628-4701
Your Excellency:
In our role as a non-profit organization dedicated to freedom of expression in the media, we write to express grave concern over the Warsaw District Office’s heavy-handed treatment of Grzegorz Gauden, editor-in-chief of the Rzeczpospolita daily newspaper.
Charged with “propagation, without permission, of news about preparatory proceedings,” Mr. Gaudet appears to be the victim of abuse of a section the Polish Penal Code, which covers “Offences Against the Administration of Justice.” The section, as you are undoubtedly aware, makes it an offense to reveal information dealing with a formal investigation. The charges against Mr. Gaudet apparently stem from a Rzeczpospolita article detailing financial irregularities involving Wladyslaw Jamrozy, former president of the management board of PZU S.A. What makes Mr. Gaudet’s case especially troubling is that the charges were leveled after a complaint by Mr. Jamrozy, who is himself under investigation and may face criminal charges. That he has been able to use the Penal Code to pressure a respected journalist and newspaper, adds to the injustice in this case. Also, the prosecutor in this case appears to have brought his charge without proving that the newspaper had access to the case files.
Since Poland ‘s record for using criminal defamation against journalists is abysmal, we hope that you will do all in your power to change this image by wiping out all criminal laws that hinder press freedom, and to see that justice is done in Mr. Gaudet’s case. His treatment has only reinforced the belief among media watchers that Poland believes the people do not have the right to know of corruption in their country.
Respectfully yours,
John Langone
Norman A. Schorr
Freedom of the Press Committee
cc:
Leszek Miller
Prime Minister
Office of the Prime Minister
Al. Ujazdowskie 1/3
oo-583 Warszawa
Republic of Poland
Fax: (011.48.22) 625-02637
Przemyslaw Grudzinski
Ambassador of Poland to the U.S.A.
Embassy of the Republic of Poland
2640 16 th Street, NW
Washington , DC 20009
Fax: (202) 328-6271
Ambassador Janusz Stanczyk
Permanent Representative
Permanent Mission of the Republic of Poland
to the United Nations
9 East 66 th Street
New York , NY 10021
Fax: (212) 517-6771