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| By: Associated Press |
| Published: August 31, 2006 |
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The Anti-Defamation League on Wednesday criticized Polish prosecutors for dropping their case against a commentator at a Roman Catholic radio station for remarks deemed anti-Semitic.
The New York-based organization, which fights anti-Semitism, called the decision to drop the case against Stanislaw Michalkiewicz "disgraceful" and said the European Union should take action against him if Poland would not.
Prosecutors were investigating Michalkiewicz, a commentator for Radio Maryja, who in March accused Jews of "trying to force our government to pay extortion money disguised as compensation payments" for property lost during and after World War II.
Michalkiewicz also called compensation claims an element of a "Holocaust business."
Prosecutors in Torun, where the station is based, dropped the case this week after determining that the Michalkiewicz had not broken Polish laws banning Holocaust denial or insulting Jews.
Prosecutors said his remarks did not violate the law because they were directed at Jewish organizations seeking restitution from Poland and not at Jews in general. The phrase "Holocaust business," they determined, was a reference to a book, and not Michalkiewicz's own idea.
"For the prosecutor to say that Michalkiewicz's obscene and hateful speech 'must not be seen as a premeditated, offensive or insulting action' is disgraceful. It was clearly all three," said Abraham H. Foxman, the Anti-Defamation League's U.S. national director.
"Radio Maryja is a major factor behind the worrying rise of anti-Semitism in Poland," Foxman said in a statement. "This is a station which has persistently broadcast anti-Semitic slanders."
Only days after the March broadcast, the Vatican expressed concerns about "the nagging issue of Radio Maryja," saying it had taken its political commentary too far. |
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