The court of first instance court has re-convicted Tomasz Sakiewicz, Editor-in-Chief of Gazeta Polska and Gazeta Polska Codziennie (published by Niezależne Wydawnictwo Polskie) in the lawsuit brought by Bartosz Kramek.
Bartosz Kramek sued Tomasz Sakiewicz for the August 2017 cover of Gazeta Polska depicting Wehrmacht soldiers and featuring the title: “The New September Campaign. WE Know the Plans for the Autumn Coup”. The cover photo was photoshopped. One of the German soldiers depicted had the face of Bartosz Kramek, the husband of Lyudmyla Kozlovska, the head of the Open Dialogue Foundation.
In his statement of claim, Kramek had demanded compensation of PLN 30,000, a donation of PLN 20,000 in favour of the Women’s Rights Centre and the issuing of an apology. Meanwhile, Gazeta Polska requested that the lawsuit be dismissed in its entirety.
Sakiewicz convicted once again
In 2019, the District Court in Warsaw resolved a dispute in favour of Kramek. The court obliged the editors of Gazeta Polska to pay PLN 10,000 in compensation and to publish a relevant apology in the Gazeta Polska weekly, and on the gazetapolska.pl website.
However, Tomasz Sakiewicz appealed against the judgment. Now, as reported by niezalezna.pl, Tomasz Sakiewicz has been sentenced again by the court of first instance in the trial.
The court awarded damages of PLN 15,000 to Bartosz Kramek, a donation of PLN 10,000 to the Centre for Women’s Rights and an apology on the cover page of Gazeta Polska.
Tomasz Sakiewicz failed to appear at the trial, justifying his absence with the explanation that he was on holiday. Meanwhile, Kramek gave his explanations to the court.
Last year, Niezależne Wydawnictwo Polskie reported an 8.5% drop in revenue to PLN 16.43 million, and its net result plunged from a profit of PLN 305.8 thousand to a loss of PLN 373 thousand.
According to the Press Control and Distribution Union, in December last year, the total average paid circulation of Gazeta Polska amounted to 23,590 copies, which was 5.65% higher than a year before.
Source: wirtualnemedia.pl
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In other media:
- OKO.press: MEP Tarczynski and editor-in-chief of “Gazeta Polska”, Sakiewicz, lost their lawsuits against ODF. They must apologise (August 22, 2022)
- Gazeta Wyborcza: Libellers must apologise and pay for the cover story (August 12, 2022)
- Wirtualne Media: Sakiewicz and “Gazeta Polska” lose Wehrmacht cover case to Bartosz Kramek. Apology ordered (August 12, 2022)
- Onet: Sakiewicz must apologise for the cover of “Gazeta Polska” (August 11, 2022)
- Press: Sakiewicz to apologise to Kramek and pay damages (August 11, 2022)
- Dziennik: Sakiewicz must apologise for the cover of “Gazeta Polska”. There’s a court decision (August 11, 2022)
