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Former Solidarity icon denies working for communist-era police

PR dla Zagranicy
Roberto Galea 07.02.2017 16:05
Lech Wałęsa, an icon of the Solidarity movement, on Tuesday denied he had collaborated with the communist authorities in the early 1970s.
Lech Wałęsa on Tuesday denied recent claims. Photo: PAP/Adam WarżawaLech Wałęsa on Tuesday denied recent claims. Photo: PAP/Adam Warżawa

He was speaking days after officials from the Institute of National Remembrance (IPN) said that recently unearthed documents confirm he was a paid informer for Poland's communist-era secret police.

Wałęsa, who served as president of Poland between 1990 and 1995, said: “I swear I never worked with them.”

IPN recently presented an analysis by graphology experts which concluded that documents signed in the 1970s by an informer codenamed “Bolek” were in the same handwriting as that of Wałęsa.

Files found in the house of communist-era Interior Minister general Czesław Kiszczak following his death in late 2015 allegedly contained a personal file and a work file of the secret collaborator.

Wałęsa told journalists on Tuesday that the “Bolek” files were written by communist-era police officers based on wiretaps set up in places where shipyard workers lived. (rg/pk)

Source: PAP

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