“He died because he was a journalist” – this is the inscription on the tenement house in Poznań, where Jarosław Ziętara lived. The journalist disappeared exactly 32 years ago. According to the prosecutor's office, he was kidnapped and murdered, and his body has not been found to this day. On Sunday, journalists and residents of Poznań honored Ziętara's memory in front of the house where he lived in 1992.
Jarosław Ziętara was born in Bydgoszcz in 1968. He graduated from Adam Mickiewicz University in Poznań. He first worked in academic radio, later collaborated with “Gazeta Wyborcza”, “Kurier Codzienny”, the weekly “Wprost” and “Gazeta Poznańska”. He was last seen on September 1, 1992. In the morning he left home for work, but never reached the editorial office of “Gazeta Poznańska”. In 1999 he was declared dead. The journalist's body has not been found to this day.
Jarosław Ziętara disappeared in 1992.TVN24
They came to honor the memory of Ziętara
In 2016, on the tenement house at Kolejowa Street 49 in Poznań, where Ziętara lived and where he was last seen, a plaque was unveiled with the reporter's image and the inscription: “Jarosław Ziętara lived in this house. Kidnapped on September 1, 1992. He died because he was a journalist”. The initiative to commemorate the journalist in this way was taken by the Jarosław Ziętara Social Committee from Poznań.
On Sunday, in front of the house where Jarosław Ziętara lived, a dozen or so people – including residents of Poznań and journalists – honored the memory of the reporter. The ceremony was also attended by the Voivode of Wielkopolska, Agata Sobczyk, and the chairman of the Poznań City Council, Grzegorz Ganowicz. – 32 years ago, this street was very quiet. Today, cars drive here despite it being Sunday morning, back then it was a very quiet street, I was here a few times in the period preceding Jarek's kidnapping. I was also supposed to be here 32 years ago, on September 1st to be exact, we were supposed to come here in a company car, pick up Jarek and go on a reporter's trip – said during the ceremony Ziętara's colleague from “Gazeta Poznańska”, journalist Krzysztof M. Kaźmierczak, representative of the Jarosław Ziętara Social Committee. “Unfortunately, our car was recalled, in unclear circumstances. Now, after years, we know that the organizers of the crime, those who had been planning to kidnap Jarek Ziętara for two months, were very keen on September 1st,” he added, noting that at that time the number one topic in all of Poland was the murder of the Jaroszewiczes.
On September 1, 1992, Jarosław Ziętara left his home for the editorial office of “Gazeta Poznańska”. He never arrived there.TVN24
“They hoped that there would be no case of some young journalist from Poznań”
“On September 1 and in the following days, it was news number one, which engaged all police forces. They were very keen on that day, because they counted on the fact that if something went wrong, if it turned out that they would not be able to get Jarek Ziętara into that fake police car, if he escaped, if something happened, they counted on this case (of the Jaroszewiczes) to cover it up, that there would be no case of some young journalist from Poznań,” he added. Kaźmierczak assessed that “Jarek was killed after being kidnapped, after several days of torture, and his body was dissolved in acid, only bone fragments remained, which were scattered in various places.” “All the more so after these 32 years, when there is no place where Jarek can be honored, this place is important, this plaque on Łazarz and the memory and presence here are important. And I have great hope, especially after Friday's appeal by the Polish Media Council to start an investigation into the thread that was discontinued in 2019, concerning these people, others who planned this crime so brilliantly – because it was a perfect crime, unfortunately” – he said and added that the names of these people appeared in the investigation and trials that were held before Poznań courts. Kaźmierczak emphasized that he still hopes that the guilty will answer for the Ziętara case, that – as he pointed out – “this will not be a case that will be proof of the criminals' great impunity, but that the eight years left until the statute of limitations will be used properly”.
Part II of the report “Attention!” about Jarosław Ziętar12.12 | Who was Jarosław Ziętara? This is probably the only case of its kind in the recent history of our country: a young journalist from Poznań was murdered by those who were to become the heroes of his article. Among those who fought for years to catch the perpetrators of the crime was the journalist's partner, who had avoided contact with the media until then, now breaks her silence…Attention TVN
Guilty: none
In 2022, the District Court in Poznań acquitted former senator Aleksander Gawronik (who agreed to provide his full name) accused of inciting the murder of Ziętara. In January 2024, this ruling was upheld by the court of appeal. In May 2024, the prosecutor's office filed a motion to the Supreme Court to have this ruling annulled.
In October 2022, in another trial, the District Court in Poznań acquitted Mirosław R., alias Ryba, and Dariusz L., alias Lal, accused of kidnapping, deprivation of liberty and aiding and abetting the murder of Ziętara. The verdict is not final. The appeal has not yet been heard.
Jarosław Ziętara's death case. “Ryba” and “Lala” were acquittedtvn24
Appeal of the Polish Media Council regarding the murder of Ziętara
On Friday, the Polish Media Council appealed to the head of the Ministry of Justice, the Prosecutor General Adam Bodnar to start an investigation into the murder of journalist Jarosław Ziętara. “In a state of law, there can be no consent to the absence of punishment for a crime. Especially for a crime that is in its essence an attack on the foundations of a democratic state. The murder of a journalist to prevent him from publishing materials is the most drastic form of censorship,” the Council emphasized in its appeal.
“We request that the investigation into the participation in the kidnapping and murder of journalist Jarosław Ziętara in 1992 of people who were not charged in other cases be resumed. In particular, that the investigation also cover people repeatedly mentioned by witnesses during the trials,” the appeal reads.
The Polish Media Council also appealed to Bodnar to ask the secret services to provide the prosecutor's office with archival files of cases conducted in 1991-1992 by the Office for State Protection. This concerns case files concerning individuals and companies that were the subject of Ziętara's journalistic investigation and for which he was murdered. “These files may be important in the prosecutor's proceedings,” the Council noted. The Polish Media Council appreciated that the prosecutor's office filed a cassation appeal to the Supreme Court this year against the verdict acquitting Aleksander G. of inciting the murder of Jarosław Ziętara. “Following this, the Polish state should also take all other actions to reveal all those responsible for the journalist's murder and bring them to criminal liability,” we read in the appeal. In 2022, by decision of the President of the Republic of Poland, Jarosław Ziętara was posthumously awarded the Knight's Cross of the Order of Polonia Restituta for outstanding services to the development of independent journalism. In the same year, another plaque dedicated to him was unveiled – in the building of the Faculty of Political Science and Journalism of Adam Mickiewicz University. For 2 years, Jarosław Ziętara has also been the patron of the Press Club Polska award for investigative journalism.
Main image source: TVN24