Polish far-right web site based in US escapes prosecution

"Race traitors will pay for their crimes," says the Redwatch Poland web site, which has been publishing the names, addresses and mobile phone numbers of politicians and left wing, gay and animal rights activists in Poland for the last eight years, with the last entry dating back to February this year giving an address linked to a 23 year-old from Gdansk.

The web site - which had crashed on Friday morning - has links to far-right groups 'Blood and Honour' and the violent 'Combat 18', which originated in the UK.

"The contents [of the web site] are very hateful and exceed the limits of criminal law," Dr. Adam Bodnar, vice president of the Helsinki Foundation for Human Rights in Poland told the Rzeczpospolita daily.

"This is a public list of their enemies. We should not be surprised if these people could be the target of attacks," he said.

Though the detailing of private addresses, threats against political activists and the racist nature of the web site contravenes Poland's hate laws, Warsaw District Prosecutor's Office spokesman Przemyslaw Nowak says investigators' "hands are tied" because the server where the web site is located is in the United States.

"Without the help of that country we are unable to determine the details of the person dealing with the site," Nowak said.

In 2006, Mariusz T. (name withheld under Poland's privacy laws) was prosecuted for running the Polish Blood and Honour web site, however, which also used a US-based server.

Prosecutors said the web site published details of "persons engaged in anti-fascist and anti-racist activities, immigrants and left-wing activists". (pg)