In September 2009 the Katowice District Court ruled that the Catholic Newspaper Gosc Niedzielny (Sunday Visitor) and its editor were guilty of offensive comments.  The paper had noted the case of Alicja Tysiac, a woman who had previously won a “wrongful birth suit” against the Polish government at the European Court of Human Rights (the same court that recently tried to banish crucifixes in Italy), which Italy appealed and had accepted by the Grand Chamber of the Court which is the first step in the appeal (Zenit.org Mar 3, 2010). That court awarded her €25,000, plus the cost of the proceedings, because Poland does not allow abortions as a birth control method as in North America and other countries but only under very specific health risks.

            The editor commented that Ms. Tysiac, then, was awarded a hefty sum of money for not being allowed to kill her baby.  So Ms. Tysiac, with the help of fellow abortion supporters took the paper to court and, lo and behold, won her case again, this time being awarded $11,000 plus a court-dictated apology.  The editor refused both and appealed to a higher court instead.

            On March 3, 2010, the Katowice Court of Appeal upheld the September verdict.  “Christianity is a religion of love and this is what the language used by the Catholic press should be”, the presiding judge unctuously declared.

            An observer noted that the court was biased from the start with the judge interrupting defence counsel and making faces and comments.  The local Archbishop Damian Zimon gave as his opinion that the whole atmosphere around the trial indicated the activity of pro-abortionists determined to overthrow Poland’s restrictive legislation.

            As for the judge’s comments that the language of Catholic newspapers should be that of soothing love, Fr. Josef Koch, spokesman for the Polish bishops, added: Indeed Christanity is a religion of love, but it is must also use the language of truth.

            Needless to say, the ruling is a direct attack on freedom of speech and a call for obfuscation and deceit.  The Catholic Association of Polish Journalists condemned the Appeal Court ruling, calling on its members not be cowed into silence. “No court has the right to forbid calling abortion a crime”, it said. (Life Site News.com, March 5, 2010)

P.S.   With respect to the European Court of Human Rights, it also bullies Poland on homosexual “rights”, demanding, for example, that it recognize inheritance rights for those living a same-sex union relationship.