30 years on, martial law still stirs controversy in Poland

Three decades have passed since martial law was declared in Communist Poland, but the event still stirs emotions and deepens political rivalries, as the country looks towards its future in the European Union.
The conservative Law and Justice party plans a march Tuesday on the 30th anniversary of the crackdown to honour "the solidarity of that period," opposition leader Jaroslaw Kaczynski said. But the march will also celebrate Poland's independence as it comes under threat today from the European Union, he added.
A small protest was also planned on the night of the anniversary outside the home of Wojciech Jaruzelski, who declared martial law as military leader. The protest was to demand that those involved in implementing the crackdown be brought swiftly to justice.
Martial law was declared on December 13, 1981, in an effort to stifle Lech Walesa's growing Solidarity labour union. It left as many as 100 people dead and thousands arrested without charge.
Jaruzelski and other high-ranking officials have been on trial since 2008 for their roles in the crackdown, but nobody has been found guilty. A Warsaw district court ruled in August that Jaruzelski, who is being treated for cancer, was too weak to continue the trial.
The frail ex-general with dark glasses, which he wears because of an eye condition, had always defended his decision. He claims the crackdown was necessary to avoid a large-scale Soviet invasion.
"It was a lesser evil, but even a lesser evil is also evil," wrote the 88-year-old in his new book Older by 30 Years.
Jaruzelski's decision remains controversial: he is viewed as either a traitor to his nation, or a hero for saving it from an invasion.
Some 51 percent of Poles say his decision to order the crackdown was justified, while some 27 percent said it was unjustified, according to a survey of some 1,000 people released Friday.
Opposition leader Kaczynski has said "accounts have not been settled" for the event, as nobody has yet been found guilty of the deaths.
The crackdown still raises issues that relate to modern Poland as the country debates what powers the EU should have over members' budgets, the opposition Law and Justice has said.
The debate comes as eurozone governments decided to split ways with Britain Friday over the implementation of tighter budget rules to battle the financial crisis during an EU summit in Brussels.
The Law and Justice party has said those stricter rules, which would give the European Commission a greater role in supervising the budgets of member states, limit Polish sovereignty.
Kaczynski has accused the country's foreign minister, Radoslaw Sikorski, of violating the constitution by calling for deeper EU integration.
During a speech last month in Berlin, Sikorski called for boosting the European Commission's powers as the only way to fight the financial crisis. He told journalists that EU countries should have "at least as much autonomy as have US states," in a remark that enraged the opposition.
"You can't take lightly such an appearance," Kaczynski said, "in the capital of a foreign nation by a foreign minister who, just like that claims, that we are ready to renounce a part of Polish sovereignty."