The Trial of General Jaruzelski Justice of the Victors, or the Victory of Justice?
The Trial of General Jaruzelski Justice of the Victors, or the Victory of Justice?

Author(s): Witold Kulesza
Subject(s): Law, Constitution, Jurisprudence, Criminal Law, Post-War period (1950 - 1989), History of Communism
Published by: Ústav pro studium totalitních režimů
Keywords: Wojciech Jaruzelski; transitional justice;
Summary/Abstract: The trial is taking place at a district court in Warsaw of General Wojciech Jaruzelski (87) and the other members of a group named the Military Council of National Salvation, which on 13 December 1981 announced martial law in Poland, took power, and during the 15 months of its operation banned the Solidarity opposition movement. It was the final attempt to conserve communism in the so-called real Socialism phase, which lasted for another nine years. Before I present the case presented in the arraignment against General Jaruzelski and his colleagues, I must first describe those events and the backdrop against which the crimes which are today attributed to him were committed. Poles regard the beginning of the collapse of communism as the foundation of the independent trade union organisation Solidarity in the shipyards of Gdansk in August 1980. Soon afterwards almost 10 million people had joined up, both workers and members of the intelligentsia. Many members of Solidarity had previously been members of the Communist Party which the then constitution guaranteed the sole right to run the state. The activities of Solidarity consisted of supporting civil society, publishing a free press and previously banned books, and above all helping to overcome fear of absolute state power.

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