Poland to strip late leader Jaruzelski of general’s rank

A government opponent burns an effigy of Jaroslaw Kaczynski, the powerful head of Poland's ruling conservative Law and Justice party before the parliament building in Warsaw, Poland, Tuesday, Dec. 13, 2016, the 35th anniversary of the imposition of martial law clampdown. The man protests the ruling party's policy saying it does not protect families in trouble. (AP Photo/Czarek Sokolowski) A government opponent burns an effigy of Jaroslaw Kaczynski, the powerful head of Poland's ruling conservative Law and Justice party before the parliament building in Warsaw, Poland, Tuesday, Dec. 13, 2016, the 35th anniversary of the imposition of martial law clampdown. The man protests the ruling party's policy saying it does not protect families in trouble. (AP Photo/Czarek Sokolowski)

By Associated Press December 13, 2016 3 min read

WARSAW, Poland (AP) – Poland’s government is taking steps to strip two late communist-era leaders of their top military ranks, part of a larger mission by the country’s ruling conservatives to seek historical justice against the communists who held oppressive power for decades until they were toppled in 1989.

The announcement was made Tuesday, exactly 35 years after the 1981 martial law clampdown was imposed against the Solidarity freedom movement by the top leader of the time, Gen. Wojciech Jaruzelski, and his deputy, Gen. Czeslaw Kiszczak.

Defense Minister Antoni Macierewicz said he wanted to inform all Poles that “today, for the last time, will the word “general” be used alongside the name of Mr. Jaruzelski by any official with the Ministry of National Defense” and that Kiszczak, too, was being stripped of his general’s rank.

“Criminals responsible for armed action against their own nation do not deserve to wear these military ranks,” Macierewicz said.

Jaruzelski died in 2014 and Kiszczak in 2015.