From: slawek starosta 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: starosta@free.polbox.pl