Polish Film Producer Charged in Bribery Case Goes on Trial

Lew Rywin, a prominent producer whose credits include the Academy Award winning films “Schindler’s List” and “The Pianist,” declared his innocence Tuesday as he went on trial on corruption charges.

The flamboyant Rywin, 58, often portrayed in films and photos smoking a thick cigar in the style of old film moguls, is charged with trying to solicit a $17.5-million bribe from the editor of Poland’s leading newspaper, Gazeta Wyborcza, in exchange for parliamentary action favorable to the newspaper’s parent company, Agora.

Rywin had allegedly approached Adam Michnik, the paper’s chief editor and a well-known opposition leader during Communist rule, who said he played along enough to keep Rywin talking but never took the offer.

The charge carries a maximum prison sentence of three years.

“I am innocent. I want to prove that I am a victim of an intrigue,” said Rywin in a courtroom filled with reporters. The defendant, dressed in a gray suit, was smiling and looked relaxed as he and his lawyers entered the biggest room in the Warsaw courthouse.

The trial resumes Friday, when witnesses will begin to testify. It is expected to last up to six months.

The case hit the Polish political scene last December when Gazeta Wyborcza published an account of a July 2002 meeting between Rywin and Michnik during which the producer allegedly claimed he represented a “group of people who hold power,” including Prime Minister Leszek Miller.

Rywin allegedly offered his services to the newspaper as a go-between to help introduce changes to media law that would allow Agora to buy the nationwide TV station Polsat. Michnik recorded the conversation and after an initial investigation by the paper decided to bring the case into the open.

Parliament set up a special investigative panel to look into the charges. Its sessions, which are being broadcast live, have millions of Poles glued to their TV sets. The panel has not released a final report yet, and Warsaw prosecutors started a separate investigation.

The prime minister, a former Communist turned social democrat, denies any role in the affair. But this case and other corruption scandals that followed have caused the popularity of Miller’s government to sag at a sensitive time, ahead of Poland’s scheduled May entry into the European Union.

On Tuesday, Rywin said in court that he would only answer questions from his lawyers but that he might change his stance following the testimony of key witnesses, including Michnik.

“Rywin is facing the dilemma of a prisoner where there is a greater bonus for being silent than for speaking. He knows that if he says nothing, the group holding power will also say nothing,” said Professor Edmund Wnuk-Lipinski from the Polish Academy of Sciences, a noted political analyst.

The prosecutor’s office has been criticized for limiting its indictment to Rywin and not going after those who might be behind him.

“I have learned nothing new from the indictment,” said Wnuk-Lipinski. “I don’t see even a trace of a separate investigation. It is as though the prosecutor’s office was limited by what was made public by the newspapers or the parliamentary panel.”

In a rare interview published Monday by the Warsaw-based newspaper Zycie Warszawy, Rywin complained that Gazeta Wyborcza and its publisher want to destroy his life’s achievements.

“One day this nightmare will be over,” Rywin said in the interview. “Now my fate is in the hands of the court. These are experienced judges and I trust I will be treated justly, although I realize they are under pressure from some media which have already pronounced me guilty. I still hope a day will come I will be able to make films again.”