Married couple sentenced for a year in prison for bringing explosives to Equality March

Both defendants pleaded guilty and asked the court to issue convictions without trial. The court agreed to their request.

"The circumstances of the crime, as well as the defendants' guilt are beyond question. The evidence proves the defendant had constructed three objects that should be treated, according to expert witness, as home-made explosive devices, posing threat to life and health of many people. Furthermore, the other defendant carried these devices in her backpack, and equipped this way they joined the counter-protest" - judge Łukasz Czapski said.

The judge sentenced each of the defendants for one year in prison, taking into account they had no prior records.

The II Equality March went through the streets of Lublin on September 28. The demonstration was blocked by anti-LGBT protesters. The police detained 38 counter-protesters on that day. In the following days, the prosecutor's office carried out routine proceedings with 33 of detained.

Among the detained there was the married couple who had brought dangerous materials to the march, hidden in a backpack.

"These people have been charged with possession, jointly and in concert, of home-made explosive devices, that, if used, could have posed danger to life and health of many people," prosecutor Bartosz Frąk informed at the time.

The police managed to detain the couple right after the march had begun. "So they had no chance to use these devices," the prosecutor explained in 2019.

Lublin police informed the devices were composed of containers filled with gas, connected to firecrackers.

During the II Equality March in Lublin, the police detained 38 people. Most of them will answer for participating in a riot, public inciting to crime or violating personal integrity of police officers. Five people, including four minors, were released already on Saturday. Their cases have been referred to a family court. One person will answer for an offense.

The police estimated that around 1.500 people took part in the march. The demonstrators were protected by a cordon of police officers. The manifestation was blocked by counter-protesters, against whom the police used tear gas and water cannon.