Władysław Szczeklik was a municipal police commandant in Biała Podlaska. Based on the testimony of employees of a pawn shop in Lublin, prosecutors were suspecting that, as a head of the of the Economic Crime Division at the Municipal Police Headquarters, Mr. Szczeklik accepted bribes. In return he was to provide information concerning planned police actions. In December 2002 he was charged with handling stolen goods, corruption and disclosure of professional secrets. On 25 October 2007 the district court in Lublin found Mr. Szczeklik not guilty. This decision was maintained by the Regional Court.
Mr. Szczeklik applied for damages and compensation for the wrongful detention between December 10, 2001 and April 26, 2002. The regional court awarded Mr. Szczeklik compensation amounting to 200,000 PLN. Since this sum corresponded only to a part of Mr. Szczeklik’s pecuniary claim, his attorneys lodged an appeal, where they challenged the decision of the court of first instance rejecting the compensation and damages exceeding the amount of 200,000 PLN.
According to the attorneys, the wrong suffered by W. Szczeklik was not limited to the time of his detention. The plenipotentiaries pointed out that in order to determine the amount of compensation, the court should also consider hostile reactions towards Mr. Szczeklik after his release. The appeal also challenged the findings of the court of first instance concerning the amount of the pecuniary damage suffered by W. Szczeklik. According Agents W. Szczeklik, the court of first instance did not include the cost of lost profit as a consequence of the dismissal of W. Szczeklik from his office.
The case is covered by the Strategic Litigation Program conducted by the Helsinki Foundation for Human Rights. Andrzej Michałowski and Jacek Stefański from the Michałowski Stefański Law Firm were Mr. Szczeklik’s the pro bono attorneys.
