Poland: Solidarity's Day in Court

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The star witness in Poland's latest courtroom drama arrived wearing a T shirt emblazoned with the logo of Solidarity, the outlawed labor union he helped found. Lech Walesa had been summoned by the prosecution to testify in the trial of three Solidarity supporters, Bogdan Lis, Wladyslaw Frasyniuk and Adam Michnik, charged with trying to organize strikes to protest food-price increases. Walesa's testimony was as defiant as his dress. "Three innocent people are in the dock," he told the court.

The Polish government granted amnesty to more than 600 political prisoners last year. Since then, however, according to dissidents, it has arrested about 100 activists. Last week's trial was another sign that the truce is over. The court prohibited the defendants from meeting privately with their lawyers and barred Western journalists and international observers from the proceedings. The trial, declared Walesa in a letter to the Polish parliament, represents "an escalation of lawlessness." After eleven days of court sessions, the three dissidents were found guilty and given prison terms ranging from 2 1/2 to 3 1/2 years. The U.S. reacted angrily, saying it might impose new sanctions on Poland.