Redwatch Arrests
Warsaw Voice
21 June 2006
Warsaw’s Police Headquarters and all province police headquarters are conducting intensive investigations into a fascist website called Redwatch. The notification that a crime was being committed by the website’s creators came from a few Wrocław residents. The Redwatch website published the photos and names of people who — according to the website’s creators — “were involved in anti-fascist and anti-racist activities, included non-white immigrants, activists of leftist associations and all kinds of supporters and activists of the homosexual and pedophilia lobby in its wide sense.”
The website made headlines after an anarchist movement activist was assaulted near his house in Warsaw; he was attacked with tear gas and then stabbed in the back. The victim’s personal data had been made available on the Redwatch site.
The first person to be arrested in conjunction with the Redwatch case, June 1, was a 37-year-old resident of Świnoujście. He is facing charges of inciting racial hatred, violating laws pertaining to the protection of personal data and involvement in an organized criminal group. The man had been updating the Redwatch website and publishing the names of people associated with left-wing organizations and sexual minorities.
On June 6, police officers apprehended a 21-year-old inhabitant of Słupsk, who according to police, had translated articles for Redwatch from Polish to English and was in contact with the website’s American administrators. His computer contained numerous documents confirming that he had been involved in the maintenance of the website and had encouraged violence against others because of their national and political affiliations.
In Łódź, a 51-year-old man was arrested June 13 when Krew i Honor (Blood and Honor) fascist propaganda was found in his apartment.
According to Polish law, anyone who publicly promotes hatred on the grounds of national, ethnic, racial and religious differences is subjected to a fine and penalty of restricted freedom or up to two years imprisonment.
Officers from Warsaw’s Police Headquarters are in regular contact with the FBI officer at the U.S. embassy in Warsaw. The Redwatch website is hosted on an American server. The Polish Foreign Ministry issued a note May 28 to the American authorities with a request for assistance in getting the website, endorsed by Krew i Honor, to close down. The Polish Ministry of Justice remains in contact with the Americans regarding the site.
