High Polish Official Tied to Kidnaping : Secret Policeman Says He Was Led to Believe Deputy Minister Knew

A secret police lieutenant testified today that his superior led him to believe a deputy interior minister was aware of a plan to kidnap a pro-Solidarity priest.

Lt. Leszek Pekala was resuming his testimony after a holiday break in the trial of four secret police officers charged in the abduction and slaying of Father Jerzy Popieluszko last October.

Pekala said his superior, Capt. Grzegorz Piotrowski, “was able to create such an atmosphere that led me to believe one of the deputy ministers knew all about it.

“He never said this specifically, but I could think such a thing in the context of our conversations,” Pekala said.

Pekala, 32, and two other officers, Piotrowski, 33, and Lt. Waldemar Chmielewski, 29, are charged with abducting and killing Popieluszko.

The fourth officer, Col. Adam Pietruszka, 47, is charged with aiding and abetting his three subordinates.

Under cross-examination, Pekala said that Piotrowski insisted that Popieluszko be killed and his body thrown into a reservoir. Piotrowski told the two lieutenants that a high-ranking official supported the operation and would protect them from prosecution, Pekala said.

“He created an impression that someone high was behind it and created appearances of a security guarantee,” Pekala said. He did not name the high-ranking official purportedly behind the plot.

Chmielewski took the witness stand for the first time and repeated Pekala’s assertions that Piotrowski gave assurances that the officers would not be prosecuted.

Chmielewski said he asked Piotrowski what would happen if the priest died. Popieluszko was known to be in poor health.

He said Piotrowski told him that he “would have to consult on the matter because he was not competent to decide on his own.”

Several days later, Chmielewski said, Piotrowski told him that there was “authorization to act” even in the event of Popieluszko’s death and that the delay in receiving an answer was because Pietruszka “had to get in touch with the top ranks.”

Asked what he meant by top ranks, Chmielewski replied, “I understood it to mean one of the directors or one of the deputy ministers.”

The decision to conduct a public trial of four security police officers is unprecedented for a Communist government, and the case is considered one of the most significant in 40 years of Communist rule in Poland.

The defendants face a minimum sentence of eight years in jail to a maximum penalty of death if convicted.