Polish court acquits men in toppling of priest statue

By VANESSA GERA
Associated Press

WARSAW, Poland (AP) — A Polish court has acquitted three men who in 2019 toppled a statue of a late priest suspected of sexually abusing minors. The toppling of the statue was a symbolically dramatic moment in the traditionally Catholic country’s reckoning with clerical abuse. The priest, Henryk Jankowski, who died in 2010, rose to prominence in the 1980s through his support for the pro-democracy Solidarity movement and its leader, Lech Walesa, in their struggle against Poland’s communist regime. As evidence mounted about his alleged abuse of boys and girls, officials refused to take down a statue honoring him, so the three activists decided to act.