Poznań court acquits two men accused of complicity in the murder of journalist Jarosław Ziętara

In the justification of the ruling, Judge Sławomir Szymański said witnesses' testimonies were "highly inconsistent" and self-contradictory, including that of Jerzy U., who is said to have seen the moment of Ziętara's abduction, as well as of Maciej B. "Baryła", a Poznań gangster believed to have eyewitnessed incitement to murder the journalist.

The judge added he was not "questioning that Jarosław Ziętara was a promising journalist ... his journalistic experience, however, was inevitably quite modest, given his young age". "One, of course, must agree with the prosecutor's argument that a journalist can be dangerous with a yet unpublished knowledge, but it hasn't been proved that Ziętara had indeed in possession of such materials," judge Szymański said.

The trial of Mirosław R. "Ryba" and Dariusz L. "Lala", who had been accused of abducting, false imprisonment, and assisting in the murder of journalist Jarosław Ziętara was taking place since January of 2019.

According to the prosecutor's office, in September of 1992, the defendants impersonated police officers and lured Ziętara to enter a vehicle resembling a police car. They handed the journalist over to the persons who murdered him, disposed of his body and hid the remains. The defendants pleaded not guilty to the charges.

In the first half of the 1990s, the defendants worked for a Poznań Elektromis holding, whose operations Ziętara was looking into. In the course of the investigation, it was determined that the accused had worked together with a third - now deceased - person.

In the closing arguments of the trial, the prosecutor demanded the defendants be found guilty of all charges, senteced to 25 years in prison, disenfrenchised for 10 years, and burdened with the cost of the trial.

The verdict issued on Wednesday, October 19, is not yet legally binding.

The arrest of a Poznań businessman Aleksander Gawronik (who agreed to have his name published in full - edit.) in November of 2014 was seen as a major breakthrough in the case. Gawronik - who had been one of the richest Poles in late 1980s and early 1990s - was accused of inciting to the murder of Ziętara. His trial began in January of 2016 at the District Court in Poznań.

In February, 2022, the court acquitted Gawronik of the charge, but that did not end the trial. The ruling is not yet binding and the prosecutor's office has appealed against it.