19-year-old charged after online call to torch mosque

Dominik Ch. (full name withheld under Polish privacy laws), is pleading guilty to the charges against him, which besides calling for arson include publicly insulting people because of their religious affiliation.

The incriminating post was written on the first day of Ramadan in 2014, referring to a mosque in the village of Kruszyniany, where Polish Tatars have lived for several centuries.

Writing under the pseudonym of ziaba on the website sadistic.pl, the accused said “screw the fact that it's a Tatar mosque.

“It's still a fxxxxxg mosque, and it's best to burn it.

“Don't defend these dirty whores.”

Employees from Białystok's Centre for Monitoring Racist and Xenophobic Behaviour spotted the posts and informed the District Proscutor's Office for southern Białystok.

Investigators managed to determine that ziaba was in fact nineteen-year-old Dominik Ch.

He will be tried at the District Court in Pinczów, and he could serve up to three years in prison.

It is estimated that there are between 3000 and 5000 Tatars living in Poland today. Owing to assimilation over the centuries, many Poles have Tatar backgrounds. The late Nobel Prize-winning author Henryk Sienkiewicz had Tatar roots, as does internationally renowned sculptor Magdalena Abakanowicz.

All in all, it is estimated that up to 25,000 Muslims currently live in Poland, including foreign students, diplomats, businessmen and refugees. (nh)

Source: Gazeta Wyborcza