News

Switon Guilty of Slander. Offending Poles, Germans and Jews

District Court in Oswiecim found Kazimierz Switon guilty of slandering the Polish sejm (parliament). Switon gained notoriety in 1999 for placing crosses in the "gravel pit." Residents of Oswiecim filed a "suspicion of the commission of a crime by Kazimierz Switon" with the public prosecutor last spring. They felt that the fliers that Switon affixed to the fence around the gravel pit and distributed to visitors contained slanderous formulations about the Sejm, as well as about Germans and Jews.

Switon was sentenced to six months' imprisonment (suspended for two years) and a fine of 400 zloty. The sentence is subject to appeal. The court also found Switon guilty of inciting nationalist animosity and of insulting Germans and Jews. Leaving the courtroom, Switon said that he will appeal. The prosecutor had called for a sentence of one year imprisonment suspended for three years and a fine of 1,500 zloty.