The District Prosecutor's Office in Piotrków Trybunalski has discontinued the investigation into public propagating of fascism during Orle Gniazdo (Eagle's Nest) festival - fact-checking service Konkret24 learned. The event was caught on video two years ago by Superwizjer TVN journalists.
In early 2017, Superwizjer TVN journalists managed to infiltrate the Polish neo-nazi circles with cameras, which resulted in a TV report aired on the 20th of January, 2018. It received many awards.
The videos recorded by the journalists show, among other things, the celebrations of the 128th anniversary of Adolf Hitler's birthday, organised in 2017 in a forest near Wodzisław Śląski (southern Poland). In July that same year, TVN journalists also went to Kępa (Łódź voivodeship) where the neo-nazi festival Orle Gniazdo (Eagle's Nest) was held. The festival is often referred to as the most important event of Polish nationalist music scene. Another event documented by Superwizjer was a neo-nazi concert organised in Grodziszcz, Lower Silesia.
After the report was aired, the prosecutor's office launched several inquiries. In January 2018, the deputy chief of the Regional Prosecutor's Office in Radomsko informed tvn24.pl that an investigation into propagating fascism at Orle Gniazdo festival was launched.
Investigation discontinued
The Superwizjer report shows the participants of the festival raising their hands in Nazi salute. Many people wore t-shirts with neo-Nazi symbols. According to the reporters, the organisers did not react.
On January 24, 2018, the case was taken over by the District Prosecutor's Office in Piotrków Trybunalski and now, as Konkret24 found out, it discontinued the investigation.
As Piotr Cegiełka, the spokesperson for the prosecutor's office in Piotrków told Konkret24, the inquiry was discontinued due to the failure to identify perpetrators.
Cegiełka said that he would provide more details on Monday, as he was away from office.
As the tvn24.pl portal informed in December, over 100 people had been questioned in connection with the case.
Cegiełka also mentioned that evidence against a woman accused of public calling to the killing of Donald Tusk was removed from the case files.
According to the investigators, Anna B. - one of the singers who performed at the festival, was shouting from the stage that Donald Tusk should be killed.
Although the woman can be seen on the footage from the event, she pleaded no guilty. The prosecutor sent the indictment to the court.
"Hitler's birthday"
First conviction after the "Superwizjer" report was handed out in October 2018. Adam B., one of the participants of the "Hitler's birthday" party was sentenced to pay a fine of 13.000 zlotys.
The man pleaded guilty. He was found guilty of propagating fascism, as well as illegal possession of a firearm.
The trial in the case of the "Hitler's birthday" began in July 2019. Six other participants of the event pleaded not guilty.
Autor: gf / Źródło: TVN24 News in English, Konkret24
Źródło zdjęcia głównego: tvn24