Polish Leader Cleared of Secret-Police Allegations

A Polish court ruled Thursday that President Aleksander Kwasniewski did not work for the Communist-era secret police, freeing him to run for reelection in October.

The court issued its verdict a day after hearing testimony from former officers of the secret police who disputed suggestions in old police files that Kwasniewski, an ex-Communist, worked as an agent code-named Alek in the early 1980s.

“I am very pleased. Truth and justice triumphed,” said Kwasniewski, smiling and looking relieved after a judge read the verdict.

Thursday’s ruling was the result of a new law requiring top officials to declare past links to the secret police. A screening court must then vet their statements. There is no penalty for admitting collaboration, but anyone caught lying is barred from office for 10 years. At least two members of Parliament have lost their posts so far.

Opinion polls indicate that Kwasniewski should easily win a second term in the Oct. 8 election. His challengers include Lech Walesa, founder of the Solidarity movement that toppled Communist rule, who also has been forced to defend his reputation in the screening court.

Walesa is due for a third hearing today, when a ruling in his case is expected.

The 2-year-old screening law is being applied to presidential candidates for the first time. Most of the 20 presidential candidates have been cleared. But Kwasniewski and Walesa faced embarrassing public hearings because of old police documents indicating that they worked as agents.

Each man has staunchly denied the allegations and suggested that the evidence was fabricated by political enemies.

Kwasniewski said he believed that screening is necessary but that the law is “deeply imperfect” and creates “absurd situations in which people are helpless.”

He threatened to call to account whoever “manipulated the documents and dates” used against him, but gave no additional details.

The spectacle of respected politicians having to fight allegations in open court has shocked many Poles and sparked a new debate over Poland’s struggle to come to terms with its Communist past.