No More Jerking Around In Court
After eleven years of beating around the bush, a Polish court has been obliged to throw out a case against former MEP Witold Tomczak, who was charged with insulting police whilst being reprimanded for driving his car the wrong direction down a one-way road.
Tomczak, who used the Polish equivalent of the word "jerk" (palant), did not turn up to any of the hearings in the town of Ostrow Wielkopolski, where proceedings were being held. Some 40 sessions over 11 years failed to resolve whether jerk was an authentic insult. Owing to laws about maximum longevity of cases, the case for the prosecution has been finally dropped. Some 100,000 zloty (25, 500 euro) from the State Treasury had been expended on the case.
Although he intends to return to politics, Mr Tomczak is no stranger to trouble. In 2000 he raised eyebrows when he annihilated a statue of Pope John Paul II that he felt was distasteful.
Source: Polskie Radio