Grzegorz Przemyk
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Grzegorz Przemyk (born May 17, 1964, died May 14 1983) was a young, aspiring Polish poet from Warsaw, who was beaten to death by functionaries of Milicja Obywatelska. His death was element of fighting democratic opposition by the Communist regime of Poland (see: Martial law in Poland).
A few days before Przemyk’s death, his mother, Barbara Sadowska, a poet and a member of anti-Communist opposition, had been badly beaten by unknown persons, who most probably had been members of the Sluzba Bezpieczenstwa. Grzegorz Przemyk was captured by the Milicja Obywatelska on Warsaw’s Castle Square, on May 12, 1983, when, together with a group of friends, he celebrated graduation from high school. He was badly beaten at the Milicja station, located at Jezuicka street in Warsaw and died two days later because of severe injuries of the stomach.
Przemyk’s funeral, which took place at the Powazki Cemetery and which was witnessed by Jerzy Popieluszko, turned into a spontaneous demonstration against Communist regime. Meanwhile, Polish Ministry of Internal Affairs tried to cover those responsible, by stating that Przemyk died because of negligence of the paramedics, who took him to the hospital. This flawed version of events was confirmed during the 1984 trial, and the two suspects, both Milicja functionaries were acquitted.
The trial returned after collapse of Communism. Investigation is also conducted by the Institute of National Remembrance. Przemyk was on May 3, 2008 posthumously awarded Order of Polonia Restituta, by President Lech Kaczynski.
