Polish prosecutors probe whether democracy icon Lech Walesa gave false testimony in spy case

Polish prosecutors on Tuesday said they were looking into whether freedom icon Lech Walesa gave false testimony regarding allegations he collaborated with the communist secret police in the early 1970s.

Walesa, who co-founded the independent Solidarity trade union and then negotiated a bloodless end to communism in Poland in 1989, is a vocal opponent of the governing right-wing Law and Justice (PiS) party, which he says is harming Poland.

The state-run Institute of National Remembrance (IPN), which prosecutes crimes from the Nazi and communist eras, said in a statement that it has been probing the Nobel Peace laureate’s testimony since June 29.

“The new proceedings concern statements by Lech Walesa, who notably... described as inauthentic” secret police documents that suggest he had collaborated, the IPN said.

The IPN said earlier this year that handwriting analysis proved the 73-year-old former president had signed a collaboration agreement and receipts for payment from the secret police using the code-name “Bolek”.

Walesa has always denied the allegations, which have dogged him for years.