– There is insufficient evidence that the defendant organized and led the protest. The court found that the defendant should be acquitted – said judge Rafał Gruca of the District Court in Bolesławiec.

No one from the Police Commissariat in Kruszyn, which had charged Halina Gniewek, attended the announcement of the verdict.

The judgment is not final.

Let us recall. In February this year, we reported that the Police Commissariat in Kruszyn had charged Halina Gniewek with organizing and leading an assembly in defiance of the ban. This was alleged to have taken place on November 26 and December 3 and 10, 2020.

The District Court in Bolesławiec had previously issued a penal order in the case, which Halina Gniewek challenged. The court found her guilty of the alleged offenses and imposed a PLN 500 fine. The woman was convicted under Article 52 § 2(2) of the Code of Petty Offenses. (Anyone who organizes an assembly without the required notification, or leads such an assembly or a prohibited assembly, is subject to restriction of liberty or a fine).

– We intend to convince the District Court in Bolesławiec that my client had the right to spontaneously demonstrate her views and civil rights together with other residents and to disagree with the Constitutional Tribunal’s judgment concerning women and their right to abortion – the defendant’s attorney, lawyer Beata Janikowska, announced in the winter of this year.

During the hearing on February 17, 2022, the defendant explained that she had neither led nor organized walks held as part of the Women's Strike. – I am a pro-democracy person, and it makes me angry when something happens that is contrary to the Constitution – Halina Gniewek said at the time. – I was neither the organizer nor the leader of the walks in Gromadka. The walks on those days were spontaneous acts. The only thing I organized in Gromadka was Tour de Konstytucja.

When asked by the court what had led the police to identify her as the organizer of the assembly, Halina Gniewek replied that she had spoken with the local police officer at the time: – The local police officer came up to me, I spoke with him for a long time and introduced myself. We talked casually about how to maintain order. At the first walk, there was my friend, my brother, my sister-in-law and a few other people.