Vystosky

[Wojtek Sokolowski]

> -Was there any punishment for being caught with illegal publications?
> 
>                                    Alexandre Fenelon
>
Not that I know of.  There was not such a thing as illegal publications.
Generally, possession as such was not an offence according to Polsih
legal code - which also pertained to drugs (but curiously not to
firearms)- you had to do something with it (like sell or buy) to come
under the definition of a criminal offense.  So for example if a cop
merely found a joint on you - he could not charge you with "possession"
(I guess on theground that "possession" is a claim rather than act - and
only acts can be criminal , but I am not a legal expert).  He would have
to observe you doing something with it, like selling or using in public
places (which was illegal).  Same for pubs.  You could have whatever you
wanted, but you could not distribute certain types of pubs defined in
broad terms, such as glorifying or encouraging crimes, sedition or
defaming public institutions or figures.  

However, I never heard of anyone being charged with distributing such
materials.  I was in a network distributing "samizadats" (home made
publications produced by typewriter and copy machine) and of course
everyone wanted to belive that there was a great risk involved, but in
fact there was none.  One of my buddies was once caught by a cop while
distributing these publications in a crowd, and immediately told the cop
that if he was going to be charged with a  "political offese" he wants
an attorney (which was the standard line every 'dissident' was supposed
to recite if arrested).  The cop replied "you want to be a martyr, huh?"
and wrote him a ticket for littering in public places.  

Wojtek