Lech Wałęsa denies allegations of communist-era secret police cooperation

Former Polish President Lech Wałęsa has released a video addressing ongoing controversies regarding his alleged past cooperation with the communist-era secret police (SB) under the pseudonym ‘Bolek’. Wałęsa has consistently denied being a secret collaborator, despite documents found in 2016 at the home of the late General Czesław Kiszczák that contained signatures attributed to him.

Following a decision by the Warsaw District Prosecutor's Office to dismiss proceedings against Wałęsa regarding false testimony, the former president has urged supporters to record the names of those attacking him, labeling his critics as ‘traitors to Poland’s successes’. The prosecution's decision to drop the case cited insufficient certainty regarding the authorship of the documents, noting that Wałęsa had limited literacy skills in the 1970s—a fact Wałęsa acknowledged but argued did not impede his mental acuity.

In a separate commentary, opposition figure and Free Trade Unions co-founder Krzysztof Wyszkowski criticized the prosecution's stance. Wyszkowski, who worked alongside Wałęsa, characterized the former president as a talented deceiver and argued that the legal focus on Wałęsa's literacy serves as an attempt to whitewash his historical involvement with the security services.