Former Polish priest indicted for incitement

WARSAW (JTA) – The prosecutor’s office in the western Polish city of Wroclaw issued an indictment against former priest Jacek Miedlar for “public incitement to hatred based on religious and national differences.”

He could face up to two years in prison.

On November 11, 2016, during the Polish Independence Day, Wroclaw hosted the “March of Patriots.” According to the prosecutor’s office, Miedlar in his speech to the march, “under the guise of promoting patriotic attitudes,” publicly called for hatred against Jews and Ukrainians.

“He used expressions intended to inspire others to feelings of contempt, strong dislike, anger, disapproval and hostility towards them [Jews and Ukrainians], imputing to them hostility towards Polish people and transgressive intentions and encouraging the participants of the march to fight against them,” the prosecutor’s office said in a statement.

Miedlar did not plead guilty, but stated that he defended the good name of Poles, whom he said the Jews call “worms.”

“We must be strong in spirit, body, in our mentality and knowledge, because only we will be able to win with the left, with Jewry, and with Communism, which are still in our homeland,” said Miedlar during the march. “Only we will win the fight against evil!” He also shouted: “Poland for Poles. Poles for Poland.”

In April 2016, Miedlar in a sermon referred to Jews as a “cancer which swept Poland.” The prosecutor’s office in Bialystok later found that no hate crime had been committed. He has twice this year been banned from entering the UK to take part in anti-immigrant marches.