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Archive for: Art. 135 § 2 CRC

Criminal law, case III K 56/12

September 14th, 2012, Tomasz Rychlicki

Robert Frycz created a website that was available under anytkomor.pl domain. The domain name and the content referred to the activities of the Polish president Bronisław Komorowski. It hosted a game entitled “Komor Killer” in which the player was able to throw feces in the animated figure of the President Komorowski.

The Prosecutor Office from Tomaszów Mazowiecki pressed charges against Mr Frycz based on the provisions of Article 135 § 2 of the Polish Criminal Code – CRC – (in Polish: Kodeks Karny) of 6 June 1997, published in Journal of Laws (Dziennik Ustaw) No 88, item 553, with subsequent amendments.

Article 135. § 1. Whoever commits an active assault on the President of the Republic of Poland
shall be subject to the penalty of the deprivation of liberty for a term of between 3 months and 5 years.
§ 2. Whoever insults the President of the Republic of Poland in public
shall be subject to the penalty of the deprivation of liberty for up to 3 years.

The judge decided to conceal the hearing due to breach of good manners and important private interests of the Polish President. The District Court in Piotrków Trybunalski in its judgment of 14 September 2012 case file III K 56/12 found Mr Frycz guilty and sentenced him for the penalty of one year and three months of of the restriction of liberty with the obligation to perform 40 hours of community service per month.

Criminal law, case III K 76/08

October 28th, 2011, Tomasz Rychlicki

In 2007, Marek Witoszek wrote SEO software that allowed him to change the visibility ranking of a website of the Polish president Lech Kaczyński in search engines, when one of the Polish offensive words was typed in. He was prosecuted and charged based on the provisions of the Article 135 § 2 of the Criminal Code – CRC – (in Polish: Kodeks Karny) of 6 June 1997, published in Journal of Laws (Dziennik Ustaw) No 88, item 553, with subsequent amendments.

Article 135. § 1. Whoever commits an active assault on the President of the Republic of Poland
shall be subject to the penalty of the deprivation of liberty for a term of between 3 months and 5 years.

§ 2. Whoever insults the President of the Republic of Poland in public
shall be subject to the penalty of the deprivation of liberty for up to 3 years.

The trial has been suspended for two years, because the judgment of the Constitutional Tribunal was expected to answer the question, whether one can be punished for insulting the president as an institution, not as a person. The Constitutional Tribunal in its judgment of 6 July 2011 case file P 12/09 held that Article 135 § 2 of the CRC is consistent with Article 54(1) of the Polish Constitution in connection with Article 31(3) of the Constitution and Article 10 of the Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms signed in Rome on 4 November 1950, as amended. Mr Witoszek pleaded guilty and has requested a voluntary submission to punishment.

The District Court in Bielsko-Biała in its judgment of 25 October 2011 case file III K 76/08 sentenced Mr Witoszek for three months of imprisonment, and conditionally suspended the execution of a penalty for three years.