Polish courtroom sentences man who fatally stabbed Gdansk mayor to life in jail

The man who fatally stabbed Gdansk Mayor Paweł Adamowicz in 2019 was sentenced to life in jail by a Polish courtroom on Thursday.

Stefan Wilmont stabbed the 53-year-old Adamowicz on stage throughout a life charity occasion on Jan. 13, 2019. Adamowicz died from his wounds the following day regardless of a blood transfusion and different efforts by medical doctors to avoid wasting him. The killing shocked Poles and plunged the nation into grief.

Judge Aleksandra Kaczmarek stated in her ruling that Wilmont had dedicated an “unprecedented homicide” in Poland’s historical past, however did not say it was a political crime, regardless of Wilmont’s criticism of the social gathering that Adamowicz belonged to, which is now within the opposition.

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Kaczmarek harassed that Wilmont’s crime was “terrifying” as he had deliberate it in a manner for the general public to see and later confirmed no regret throughout the trial.

The sentencing got here after a three-year lengthy investigation and a year-long trial and was according to the prosecution’s movement. Wilmont’s legal professionals stated they might attraction the sentence.

Gdansk mayor Pawel Adamowicz speaks at a commemoration ceremony for late Bremen Mayor Hans Koschnick in Bremen, Germany, on May 4, 2016. A Polish courtroom on March 16, 2023, sentenced Stefan Wilmont to life in jail for fatally stabbing Adamowicz. (Carmen Jaspersen/dpa by way of AP, File)

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Adamowicz’s brother, lawmaker Piotr Adamowicz, stated the decision closed one stage within the case, however that an attraction trial may very well be anticipated later this 12 months.

“No one may give my brother his life again,” Adamowicz stated.

The scenario just isn’t “not simple” for the household who went via a “big tragedy in 2019” that’s introduced again to them at each courtroom session.

The conservative ruling Law and Justice social gathering has confronted accusations {that a} hostile ambiance created towards Adamowicz and different socially liberal politicians unfold by state media created fertile floor for the violence towards him.