Poland Keeping the Lid on Murder

By Jamie Murphy

Voice firm and eyes unyielding, the former captain of the Polish secret police recalled the night of the murder. It was, he said, the first time he had struck a man "in my adult life." He said: "I hit him at least two, most probably three or four times, in the area of the head. I have the impression I put something into his mouth. I don't know if it was really like that or if it is a scene from a dream." Pausing briefly, Grzegorz Piotrowski, the 33-year- old, soft-spoken former high school mathematics teacher declared: "That was the beginning of the whole catastrophe."

Piotrowski and three other members of the Polish secret police--two lieutenants and a colonel, all now reduced to privates--are on trial for last October's abduction and murder of Father Jerzy Popieluszko, a priest who was an unyielding supporter of the banned Solidarity trade-union movement. As Piotrowski took the witness stand last week in Room 40 of the courthouse in the city of Torun, many expected the ex-captain to confirm the prosecution's original claim that the slaying was carried out with the knowledge and support of high-ranking members of the Internal Affairs Ministry, which oversees the secret police. But although he said that at one time he had mistakenly believed the orders to abduct Popieluszko came from "the top," he allowed the stain of complicity to go no further than his immediate superior, Adam Pietruszka, a former colonel and the fourth man in the dock. Like two of his co-defendants, former Lieutenants Waldemar Chmielewski and Leszek Pekala, who testified two weeks ago, Piotrowski said he assumed that the idea to abduct the priest was sponsored by people senior enough to shield him from prosecution. "All the time, I was certain that this cannot be Adam Pietruszka's idea. But it turned out different," he declared.

The testimony came none too soon for Poland's Communist government. Although Polish Premier General Wojciech Jaruzelski has promised the trial will not be a whitewash, many Poles believe that the government will now be able to declare that justice has been served and that a widespread investigation is unnecessary. While Piotrowski's confession shielded the powerful, it increased the chance that he would receive the death sentence. He appeared ready and willing to drag Pietruszka down with him.

Piotrowski described a meeting in late September in Pietruszka's office, also attended by Lieut. Colonel Leszek Wolski, head of Warsaw's local security office. Speaking of Father Popieluszko and Stanislaw Malkowski, another activist priest, the ex-captain recalled his superior saying, "Enough of this game playing with Popieluszko and Malkowski. We will take decisive action. We have to shake them so hard that it leads right up to a heart attack." As Pietruszka sat impassively, separated from Piotrowski by two uniformed police officers, the former captain revealed that the victim was originally to have been Malkowski. Piotrowski claimed that he managed to dissuade his superior, saying, "Popieluszko is more dangerous politically." When Wolski said he would have to inform his superiors, the colonel allegedly replied, "Don't bother with superiors. The less they know, the smaller headache they will have." About a month before the crime, said Piotrowski, the colonel called him into his office and allegedly told him, "I don't think I have to add that this is a decision from the highest level."

After the murder, Piotrowski became less sure that he had protectors in high places. The day after Popieluszko's disappearance, Piotrowski was summoned to the office of General Zenon Platek, head of the religiousaffairs department at the Internal Affairs Ministry. What, the general demanded, did the captain * know about the case? Piotrowski said that he lied and said he knew nothing.

On the stand two days later, Pietruszka pleaded not guilty to the accusations, dismissing them as "allegations by Piotrowski." Approving such an act, he asserted, would have been inconsistent with what he called socialist humanism. Instead, he suggested that Piotrowski misunderstood his instructions and took matters into his own hands. He agreed, however, that last September he discussed with the former captain and another officer the need to take action against the political activities of some priests. Harshly criticizing Poland's Roman Catholic Church, he accused these priests of fomenting hatred toward Marxists and of being among those who "carry a cross on their breast and unequivocal hatred in their hearts."

Piotrowski took the opportunity to vent his frustration against the Catholic Church, its bishops and Father Popieluszko, hinting that the priest had had an affair with a woman. In a sometimes agitated, 30-min. harangue against the church, Piotrowski asked, "How could we keep calm when import duties in the amount of 30 million zlotys (about $231,000) were waived for priests, mostly for cars and luxury goods? How could we keep calm if, disregarding the law, schools were occupied, youth were incited and educated to hate the state?" For the secret police, he said, "there were no Sundays. Children never saw their fathers because some priests decided to make trouble for us."

During his testimony, Piotrowski requested an adjournment for the day and got it. He insisted that a noisy photographer be asked to stop taking pictures. He even reprimanded one of the five acting judges. While Piotrowski was describing a phone call received from "a friend in the branch," Judge Artur Kujawa asked for the name of the friend. Snapped Piotrowski: "There are names of many functionaries of the internal-security service mentioned here. There are Western correspondents present in the room. Could you please excuse me from answering that question?" The request was granted.

With reporting by Tadeusz Kucharski/Torun and John Moody/Warsaw