From: slawek starosta <[email-masked]>

POLISH PUBLISHERS IN COURT

On the 28th of March 1997, public prosecutor's office in Warsaw, 
district Zoliborz, prepared an indictment of distributing pornography 
against Slawek Starosta (the editor of  "Nowy Men" ,"Nowy Wamp" 
and "Super Wamp" magazines), and Jaroslaw Ender (the President of 
Pink Press publishing house).

"We learned about the indictment from the media" - says Starosta, 
former gay activist, founder of Lambda, Polish national gay & lesbian 
organisation and the first openly gay public person in the country. " And 
the prosecutor still has not delivered the indictment to Mr. Ender".

Poland has an obsolete, communist penal code from 1968. In the 
article 173 the code prohibits "distributing printed matter, pictures or 
other pornographic materials". Still, no definition of 'pornography' is 
provided in the code. This deficiency allows for the law to be
interpreted depending on the political situation.

Considering that a general election is to be held in June and the Pope 
is coming to Poland in two months' time a public attack against 
homosexuals publishing pornography may make a lot of political capital 
for right-wing parties with strong links to the Catholic Church. Other 
facts also point to a political character of the whole matter. Firstly,
there are approximately 20 titles of similar character in the country and so
far no publisher has been accused of distributing pornography nor any 
such indictment has been presented to court. Moreover, every new 
periodical has to be registered by the Register Court which has the right 
to refuse or withdraw a registration if the content of a magazine violates 
the law. The three investigated magazines have been registered 
without any objections. Yet another evidence is the prosecutor's own 
doubts as to the possibility of winning the case in a court of law 
expressed in a press interview. "Why, then - asks Jaroslaw Ender - 
should they decide to proceed with the procedure if not to attract 
publicity to the right-wing homophobic propaganda?".

To make a situation more bizarre Polish Sejm (the lower chamber of 
parliament) has passed a new penal code which defines punishable 
pornography as the one showing sex with children, animals or with the 
use of violence. "Our magazines contain none of this kind" - claims the 
publisher of "Nowy Men", "Nowy Wamp" and "Super Wamp". - 
"Unfortunately, the new regulations will come into force only after they 
have been accepted by the Senate and signed by the president. In 
practice, it means at the beginning of 1998.

"The trial poses a serious danger not only to us but also to all the other 
people contributing to the existence of our magazines" - says Starosta. 
-" After we had refused to answer the prosecutor's questions 
concerning our authors and photographers, the prosecutor submitted 
them to a separate investigation. "Nowy Men", for instance, consists in 
90% of letters and stories written by readers who, in majority live in small 
towns and villages, where the anti-gay attitude is strong. Outing a gay 
person from a small town would mean for him experiencing severe 
social ostracism physical aggression included."

The case appears the more grave if we consider the fact that 
Church-affiliated right-wing parties have the lead in the recent opinion 
poll. Also, the Polish Parliament has removed from the Constitution draft 
a passage prohibiting discrimination on grounds of sexual
orientation. Instead, after consultations with the Catholic Church 
authorities, a new article - stating that only a relationship between a 
woman and a man can be legally accepted as a marriage - was 
introduced. Hence, Poland faces a situation in which registered 
homosexual partnership will be constitutionally prohibited.

As the public prosecutor's office Warsaw, Zoliborz, has refused 
including additional defence's evidence, the defendants will held a 
press conference in Interpress Press Centre in Warsaw, April 17th 
1997, to present the evidence that had not been considered in the 
process of investigation.

More information can be obtained from:
Slawek Starosta
Pink Press
01-418 Warsaw, Poland
ul. Kaprys 4/2
fax: (+48 22) 25-71-45
mobile (+48 601) 24-34-44
e-mail: [email-masked]