Libeling the pope

Warsaw

A prominent Polish publisher was found guilty this week of libeling the pope. Jerzy Urban, publisher of the satirical weekly Nie, printed an article in 2002 that poked fun at Pope John Paul II’s age and frailty. “Intending to ridicule the church, Jerzy Urban ridiculed and derided the pope,” the judge said. She fined him $6,500, under a law that forbids defaming any head of state. Most Poles did not jump to his defense; the notoriously acerbic Urban is still widely despised because he served as the spokesman for Gen. Wojciech Jaruzelski, the communist leader who declared martial law in the 1980s. But journalism watchdog groups denounced the punishment as a violation of freedom of expression under European Union laws.

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