Jail term for libel

Press freedom campaign group Reporters Without Borders has deplored a prison sentence imposed on a regional newspaper editor for libelling a local official.

RWB has called on the Polish parliament to amend the country’s libel laws following the sentence given to Andrzej Marek, editor of Wiesci Polikie.

He was given the three-month sentence for libelling Piotr Misilo, who he said had misused public property.

RWB said Poland, which is due to join the European Union in May, was violating European standards of press freedom, which say journalists must not be jailed for actions that are part of their job. It called for Marek’s sentence to be dropped.