Zbigniew Mitera accused the mayor of posting a defamatory entry that exposed him to a loss of public trust. Mayor Robert Relich pleaded not guilty. He pointed to the decade-long hate directed at him on the Marczewski family’s website.
It was on the Marczewski family’s website that an anonymous entry appeared beneath a photograph of Zbigniew Mitera at a sports competition: “The one handing out the trophy looks like he’s from AA; get rid of him, so he doesn’t scare the young people.” It was posted from Robert Relich’s computer.
On the same website, as Robert Relich argued, regular hate personally and professionally targeting the mayor continued for ten years. According to Relich, this included not only materials published by Kazimierz Marczewski, but also anonymous comments beneath those materials. Robert Relich’s attorney requested that Marcin Marczewski from bolec.info be questioned.
This is another case concerning hate on bolec.info. Last year, Jerzy Małachowski accused councillor Dariusz Mucha of defamation. It concerned the councillor’s post on the Bolec forum. On 5 January 2018, a settlement hearing was held at which Dariusz Mucha apologized to Jerzy Małachowski.
The Mitera and Relich case has two aspects. It shows how active local-government officials are online and the forms this activity takes, while also raising the question of whether calling someone an Alcoholics Anonymous member can expose them to a loss of public trust.