The World - News from Jan. 21, 1986

Poland’s leading space scientist, Jan Hanasz, and three colleagues went on trial, accused of having interrupted a state television transmission last year to urge voters to boycott elections. The four, who face possible three-year prison terms, were seized in Torun, where Hanasz headed the astrophysics laboratory at the Copernicus Astronomy Center. They allegedly used a home computer, a synchronizing circuit and a transmitter to flash messages on local television screens.