On the night of October 19-20, 1984, on the route from Bydgoszcz to Warsaw, three Security Service officers dressed as militiamen kidnapped Father Jerzy Popie\u0142uszka and his driver Waldemar Chrostowski. Only thanks to the fact that Chrostowski escaped by jumping handcuffed from a moving car, it was possible to establish the identity of the kidnappers and accuse them of the murder of Father George, whose massacred corpse was later found in the bottom of the Vistula River.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
From December 27, 1984 to February 7, 1985, the trial of the killers of Father Jerzy Popie\u0142uszka took place at the Regional Court in Toru\u0144. This was the only case of condemning members of the communist repression apparatus for political assassination in the times of the Polish People's Republic. The perpetrators received sentences of between 14 and 25 years in prison. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
The trial, although it took place in the realities of the Polish judiciary, and the entrance to the courtroom was strictly regulated, was open. There were so many crowds gathering in front of the courthouse that the court was surrounded by barriers and a police cordon for the duration of the trial, and the court order was guarded by armed soldiers. Entrance cards were difficult to access. Few representatives of the Church, Catholic organizations and the media received them. Despite numerous difficulties and information blockade, the overt nature of the process allowed the whole public to know the methods by which the security apparatus of the Polish People's Republic fought people who considered them enemies.<\/p>\n\n\n\n