In my opinion, one issue is not a subject of any discussion - one cannot nuance nor explain, justify nor absolve the circumstances of the brutal murder of the President of Gdansk, which happened a year ago. It was a tragedy that probably nobody had expected, because nobody of sound mind would wish Adamowicz death. Not even his political opponents and those were not lacking. This is one thing.

The second thing is how now, after a year, we talk about this death and its reasons. What are the accusations, who is to blame, who contributed to this crime, whether it was the language of hatred or the media campaign for the President of Gdansk. And finally, will a man’s death erase his guilt? Is he to be almost canonised and will we issue a ban on mentioning the investigations that were carried out in his cases?

As a journalist who has repeatedly asked questions about Paweł Adamowicz, his property and the way the city was managed, I strongly disagree with the suggestion that it is the media that ‘hounded’ the president; that they are in any way guilty of his death. In July 2016, the text „Mysteries of Adamowicz’s Fortune” was published in the weekly “Sieci”, which we wrote together with Marek Pyza. I suggest referring to its key fragments and recalling our findings.

Hundreds of thousands of zlotys from unknown sources. The notorious untruth in property declarations. Luxury apartments bought at mysterious discounts in the best parts of the city he governed and forgetting about them when filling in property declarations. Finally, contradictory explanations of the suspect. If this story had concerned an ordinary person, he would have probably faced very serious problems with law enforcement agencies

— we wrote in the weekly “Sieci”.

It should be said with sorrow: his death was terrible, but his life was far from „holy”. And the media were entitled to ask about it, as in the case of any other politician…

Tłum. K.J.