Members of the Aktywny Bolesławiec group before the court. Verdict issued

On Friday, June 23, a case brought by private indictment against five members of Aktywny Bolesławiec concluded with a verdict. The private prosecutor was Zbigniew, a former group member. The court found the women accused of insult not guilty and ordered the prosecutor to pay each of them PLN 1,176. In the case of the man accused of defamation, the court discontinued the proceedings, finding the act to have low social harmfulness, but awarded the prosecutor PLN 2,460 from the accused man. In the court’s view, the accused man’s words could have humiliated Zbigniew in the eyes of the public, but the court took into account that the man had removed the defamatory post himself, that the post had been visible on Facebook for about an hour, and that it arose from the context—an exchange between the accused and the private prosecutor. The verdict is not final.

A committed tourist

Zbigniew is an avid tourist. Rallies and trips are his passion. He considered membership in the Aktywny Bolesławiec (AB) Facebook group a great honor. It was even a second home for him, as he had spent many years abroad. When he returned in 2012, he had to rebuild his relationships and contacts from scratch. That is why, when he found tourism enthusiasts in AB, he came alive again and quickly became friends with the group’s members. He even acquired the affectionate nickname “Kotek.”

“At the very beginning of AB’s activity, I was even a group administrator,” Zbigniew Zbigniew says about the case (the group does not confirm this—editor’s note). “However, over time I was deprived of that role, then banned from the AB group and removed from the rally and cycling groups,” he adds.

Soon afterward, one of the moderators on the AB group (the accused man mentioned above—editor’s note) posted an item accusing Zbigniew of two acts: “(…) slashing tires, for example Katarzyna’s, (…) locking a group of 20 people with a chain and padlock in a hunting lodge.” Zbigniew decided to accuse the moderator and the women supporting him of libel and defamation.

What is Aktywny Bolesławiec?

Put simply, it is a group of enthusiasts of economical travel, created on Facebook in 2016. Most trips were within Poland, though there were also excursions abroad, usually to the Czech Republic or Germany. The idea for the trips was excellent. Someone came up with a destination, and people who had the desire and time signed up on a first-come, first-served basis. A minibus or bus was filled, and sometimes people traveled in private cars. The price was simply the cost of fuel or the rental of a minibus, divided among the travelers. The AB Facebook group currently has more than 900 members.

“It is a place where single people can spend time together on an outing nearby or farther away,” explains the group’s operating principles a woman, one of those accused by Zbigniew. “I am single, and for me it is a wonderful place to spend time together in the way I want. I write in the group that I want to go to the cinema, go to the theater, or visit a café, and people willing to join immediately appear,” she adds.

Unwanted “Kotek”

The whole story began for Zbyszek just before New Year’s 2022. An offer appeared in the AB group to spend New Year’s Eve together in Otok, at a hunting lodge. Zbigniew signed up for the event first. However, after some time, an administrator told him that the AB group’s New Year’s Eve event would not take place. Suspecting something was wrong, Zbigniew decided to check this information. His disappointment was enormous when he discovered that the event would take place, the group had gathered, and the lodge had already been paid for.

“In short, they kicked me out of that New Year’s Eve event,” Zbigniew says. “First I politely asked why this had been done to me. I wanted to explain things to the administrator who had posted the offer for the event. For weeks I asked for a chance to defend myself and explain. In the end she banned me for no reason. Then I wrote to her in a private message: ‘You’re such a scumbag.’ She decided that I was insulting her and removed me from other groups. I wanted to explain myself and fix the situation. I was not given a chance. Finally, that defamatory post appeared in the group,” Zbyszek admits.

The man complained primarily about the hate and ostracism he began to face. AB members who remained in contact with him told Zbigniew after his ban how people—especially several of the accused—were defaming him in the group, attributing disgraceful behavior and acts to him. According to Zbigniew, whose account was confirmed by his acquaintances, the accused parties’ actions caused some AB members to develop a very negative attitude toward him, remove him from their friends lists, and refuse to maintain contact with him. Reportedly, anyone who defended him was also removed from the group.

Private New Year’s Eve party

The people accused by Zbyszek, who administer and moderate the AB Facebook group, tell the story differently. Many people wanted to attend the New Year’s Eve event—too many for the pandemic period. The people accused by Zbyszek claimed that they had sent him information saying they had canceled the group event but were organizing a private party. They said information about canceling the group’s New Year’s Eve event had been posted on Facebook.

“We have confirmation that Mr. Zbigniew read this information,” says one of the accused. “We had fun among ourselves, and I did not intend to explain myself to anyone or send a list of guests invited to a private party. Mr. Zbigniew sent me insulting text messages saying that he would spit in my face and that I was not a human being. I did not intend to have anything to do with him personally. In addition, Mr. Zbigniew behaved uncouthly on the group forum, swore, and insulted people. That was why he was removed from the AB group.” The woman shows text messages and Zbyszek’s posts as evidence, confirming her words. In the posts she shows, the word “bitch” appears several times.

The information provided by the accused and screenshots of Facebook posts indicated that Zbigniew had repeatedly added uncouth posts.

“Many people, including Mr. Zbigniew’s acquaintances who today support him, said they agreed with our decision to remove Mr. Zbigniew from the AB group precisely because of his behavior,” says the group administrator.

A ban on “liking”: hate or a loyalty test?

What happened that the same people who agreed with the decision to remove Zbyszek from the group later began supporting him and pointing to the hate he faced?

Two people belonging to AB confirmed Zbyszek’s account. They also described the mechanism for excluding Zbyszek that, in their view, was used by the group’s administrator and moderators (accused by Zbyszek—editor’s note).

“When I took Zbyszek’s side, my administrator rights were taken away,” says a former AB member. “The Messenger group where I could still act, and did act, was shut down by the administrator, and everyone who had been in it moved to another group. I was cut off from my friends and from the entire group I had helped create—just because I took Zbyszek’s side, believing that no one should be subjected to such hate,” the woman adds.

The second woman, who also supported Zbigniew, claimed that one of the accused women had instructed members whom they could highlight with a “like” and whom they could not. Likes were supposedly given only to those who did not support Zbigniew.

“It may seem ridiculous, but these ‘likes’ play an important role,” the woman explains. “It is a tool for hating and highlighting people. Likes show who is popular. That woman watched very carefully to see whether someone had liked a person they were not supposed to. And when such a situation occurred, there was a reprimand,” the woman adds.

The evidence includes a text message containing such a reprimand. The woman accused of the actions described above explained the situation.

“When we learned about the lawsuit and the charges against us, we all took it very hard,” the woman explains. “However, we decided not to involve anyone from AB in the case. We wanted to spare people stressful experiences. We did not tell anyone that Zbigniew had sued us. The fact that he had brought the case was revealed only by one of the members, who complained in the group that she had been called as a witness. That was when I wrote a post saying that she owed this inconvenience not to us but to Zbigniew, and that anyone could attend the hearing to form their own opinion about which side was telling the truth. In writing the post, I used a shortcut and, instead of writing ‘form your own opinion about which side is telling the truth,’ I wrote ‘whom to like,’ meaning whom to agree with. This followed from the entire correspondence. I wanted to know who supported me and who did not. The court case cost us a great deal of nerves and stress and at times took away our desire to act. It was a very difficult period for us, and the case dragged on,” she adds in her explanation.

Did someone chain up the accused?

Reportedly, on New Year’s Eve, one of the partygoers, while leaving the property where the lodge stood, encountered a chain and padlock on the entrance gate. To leave the property, he supposedly broke through the flimsy gate with an ax, thereby removing the obstacle. However, there were no witnesses who saw the person blocking the gate with a chain. Zbigniew firmly denies doing it.

The Facebook post accusing Zbigniew of chaining a group of people inside the lodge quickly disappeared from Facebook (only screenshots remain—editor’s note). It was posted by one of the AB group’s moderators and quickly deleted.

Nevertheless, the post was copied and took on a life of its own. It was reportedly reproduced in numerous groups and eventually turned into an accusation that Zbigniew had locked a group of people inside a wooden lodge with a small stove, supposedly exposing those gathered there to the risk of death or injury in the event of an accident (caused by accidentally starting a fire—editor’s note).

“What matters is that a witness called by Zbigniew testified that Zbigniew admitted to him by telephone that he was the one who locked us in on New Year’s Eve,” says one of the accused women. “Zbigniew did not deny his witness’s testimony or comment on it,” the woman adds.

After the case…

Zbigniew wanted to hear the word “sorry” for being excluded from the AB group. After the verdict was announced and he left the courtroom, he appeared confused and thought he had not heard everything the judge said clearly, but he was aware that he had lost. He is considering an appeal. He was ordered to pay costs, including costs awarded to the acquitted women. The accused parties’ female lawyer has also announced an appeal. This too concerns the costs imposed by the court on the man who posted the item.

“I was not confused. I was proud of this verdict and certainly was not the loser. I certainly will not appeal,” Zbigniew said in a conversation with our editorial team several days after the verdict.