The Institute of National Remembrance sent an indictment to the District Court in Katowice on Tuesday against the former member of the Motorized Reserves of the Citizens' Militia (ZOMO) special platoon, Roman S. The man has been charged with shooting at protesting miners from "Wujek" coal mine in Katowice in December 1981.
The indictment has been filed by the prosecutor from the Commission for the Prosecution of Crimes against the Polish Nation.
"Roman S. has been charged with committing communist crimes, which were also crimes against humanity," the IPN said on Tuesday.
The accused pleaded not guilty of committing the said crimes and refused to provide a statement.
Roman Zdzisław S. - a former officer of the special platoon of the Voivodeship Citizens' Militia in Katowice is in the hands of the Polish police. Craotian authorities decided about handing the suspect over to Polish justice system. The former communist police officer was detained on May 17 in Croatia.
According to unofficial information by PAP from sources close to the case, the suspect wasn't living in Poland, but in Germany. It was also known that Roman Zdzisław S. renounced Polish citizenship and accepted German.
In 2012, a prosecutor from the IPN filed a request to a court in Katowice to issue the European Arrest Warrant after the suspect. The warrant was sent to the German authorities but they refused to comply.
During the martial law in Poland, on 16th of December 1981, the militia opened fire with live ammunition to the protesting miners from "Wujek" coal mine in Katowice. The tragic incident left nine miners dead and over 20 wounded. This was the worst tragedy of the martial law in Poland.
Autor: gf / Źródło: TVN24 News in English, PAP