POLAND:The European Court of Human Rights has criticised Polish president Lech Kaczynski in a ruling that found Poland had violated human rights by banning a gay rights march.
In a judgment yesterday, the court found Poland broke three articles of the European Convention on Human Rights, including freedom of assembly and the prohibition of discrimination.
The ruling by the Strasbourg court relates to a decision by the Warsaw authorities to ban the "Equality Days" gay rights march in June 2005 when Mr Kaczynski was mayor of Warsaw.
In reaching its decision, the court said it could not overlook a newspaper interview given by Mr Kaczynski prior to the march in which he had "expressed strong personal opinions about freedom of assembly" and "propaganda about homosexuality".
He had also stated he would refuse permission to hold the demonstrations in Warsaw.
The court found it could be "reasonably surmised" the mayor's opinions affected the decision-making process in Warsaw and, as a result, infringed the applicants' right to freedom of assembly in a discriminatory manner.
The march for gay rights went ahead in Warsaw despite the ban by the authorities. However, the court said organisers had taken a risk by holding it.
The issue of gay rights has become a focus of fierce debate in Poland under the ultra-conservative administration headed by Mr Kaczynski and his twin brother Jaroslaw. It is also causing concern among MEPs, who last month passed a resolution condemning homophobia in the EU. They are planning to send a delegation to Poland to investigate the situation of homosexuals.
However, the chief of Poland's National Security Bureau, Wladyslaw Stasiak, rejected the Strasbourg court's ruling yesterday, saying genuine security concerns had existed and suggestions that Poland was undemocratic were wrong. "At that time, a security threat, a threat of conflict between various sides, objectively existed," said Mr Stasiak, who was deputy Warsaw mayor during the 2005 incident.
"In Poland, diverse views may be encountered. But I regard as moral terrorism the aggressive promotion of any views pushing people against the wall saying, 'if you don't agree with me then you are a scoundrel and homophobe'," he said.