July 2023: The District Court for Warsaw – Śródmieście acquitted two people accused of participating in the Rainbow Night rally.
7 August 2020 was one of the most important events for the LGBT+ community in Poland, the culmination of a 1.5-year homophobic and transphobic campaign coming from the ruling party. On that day, the protesters were protesting against the decision of the District Court in Warsaw to place Stop Bzdurom collective activist Margot in pre-trial detention. The police violently treated the protesters, detaining random people. As one police officer revealed in his testimony, they were instructed to detain people wearing rainbow emblems, no matter what they were doing. 49 people were detained at the time, and a report by the National Torture Prevention Mechanism indicated that these people had experienced degrading and, in some cases, inhuman treatment.
7 March 2022. The Warszawa Śródmieście – Północ District Prosecutor’s Office in Warsaw discontinued proceedings against 43 persons. In the case of six persons, indictments were filed, charging the persons with participation in a riot whose participants jointly committed a violent attack on property.
In July 2023, we heard the verdict of the Court of First Instance on the first two persons. The District Court in the person of Judge Justyna Koski-Janusz acquitted the accused persons.
Throughout the trial, the prosecution did not appear in the courtroom even once.
In its reasoning, the Court made it clear that on 7 August 2020, a spontaneous gathering in defence of the rights of LGBT+ people took place at Krakowskie Przedmieście in Warsaw. The court emphasised the political and social context, in particular the political actions against this community, particularly highlighting the words of President of Poland Andrzej Duda “it’s not the people, it’s the ideology”.
The justification does not lack an assessment of the police actions of that day. The detention of Margot itself was considered by the court to be a “show-off detention, intended to highlight the ruthlessness in action”. The court described the officers’ actions as “provocative” and their attitude as boisterous and arrogant. The court also highlighted the huge discrepancy between the officers’ testimonies and the video documentation, as well as the randomness of the arrests made.
We would like to thank the lawyers: Agata Bzdyń and Karolina Gierdal, who defended in this case.