Northern (N): Poland (NP). Law and Justice

A file of correspondence concerning legal developments in Poland. The documents discuss the trial of a group of Polish citizens charged with stealing around 18 million zlotys' worth of leather; and the sentencing of the leader of this group to death under the "accelerated procedure", a Polish legal procedure that allows the imposition of the death penalty and prevents any form of appeal against the verdict. The documents also cover the publication of an article in Trybuna Ludu emphasising that the death penalty will continue to be used to punish those found guilty of "economic crimes against the state"; and the Polish government's use of the "accelerated procedure" to increase the sentences to be served by those already imprisoned for economic crimes. Other documents comment on the imprisonment of two Polish citizens on charges of "espionage and illegal frontier crossing".