Aspekty proceduralne sprawy Gorgonowej
The procedural aspects of the Gorgonowa case

Summary/Abstract: The case of Rita Gorgonowa, charged with the murder of Elżbieta Zaremba, was the most famous court case in the Second Polish Republic. The trial in this case, with the participation of a jury, took place initially before the district court in Lviv and later in Krakow. It attracted great interest from the press, which reported on its proceedings. The trial was based on circumstantial evidence, which made it even more significant. It was attended as participants by the best-known Lviv and Krakow judges, lawyers (Maurycy Axer) and medical experts (Ludwik Hirszfeld, Jan Olbracht), all of whom found it to be the most famous case of their careers. Writers (Tadeusz Boy- Żeleński) also took an interest in the case. Despite the conviction of Gorgonowa, the trial raises controversies to this day. They mainly cast doubt on the evidence on which the verdict was based and the multiple errors that were made during the investigation of the Gorgonowa case (especially operations at the crime scene). The Gorgonowa trial was also important for the popularisation of the practice of using expert medical opinion evidence by Polish courts. The fact that the accused of this murder was a woman also played a significant part according to the non-legal press.

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