Former spy chief claims Walesa was Communist agent

Former spy chief claims Walesa was Communist agent
AGENCE FRANCE PRESSE

WARSAW, AUG 11: A former director of Poland's spy agency charged today that ex-president Lech Walesa had collaborated with the Communist-era secret police.

``In my opinion, Walesa was the agent Bolek,'' Piotr Naimski told journalists, after giving testimony in a closed hearing into whether Walesa was a collaborator.

Walesa is seeking to retake the Presidency and under a 1997 law must be vetted for collaboration with the Communist-era secret police, the Sluzba Bezpieczenstwa (SB).

The case against Walesa has been based on photo-copies of three secret police documents that claim Walesa worked for the secret police under the code-name Bolek from 1970-1976, before he led a strike of shipworkers in August 1980 that forced the Polish Communist regime to recognise Solidarity.