Seized Dissident an Agent for West, Poles Contend

WARSAW —  The Polish government alleged today that captured Solidarity underground leader Zbigniew Bujak was directed by Western intelligence services and that he was responsible for “a lot of tragic events in our state.”

Bujak, 31, was arrested after eluding authorities several times since the martial law crackdown that crushed the independent labor federation in December, 1981. He led Solidarity’s Provisional Coordinating Committee. His arrest was announced Saturday.

“His activity was directed and inspired by Western special services and centers of ideological diversion,” Gen. Henryk Dankowski, deputy chief of the Polish secret police force, was quoted as saying by the Communist Party newspaper Trybuna Ludu.

Dankowski said police who captured Bujak also seized “modern communication equipment,” Western currency and underground documents, the newspaper reported.

“As a result of (Bujak’s) actions, a lot of tragic events in our state took place,” Dankowski said. He did not elaborate.

Thousands of Poles participated demonstrations in Gdansk, Krakow and Wroclaw on Sunday to protest Bujak’s arrest.

A PAP statement announcing Bujak’s arrest did not say what charges he faces but accused him of “carrying out activities aimed at overthrowing the constitutional system of Poland.”

If he is charged with and convicted of acting to overthrow the government by force, Bujak will face a minimum penalty of five years in prison and a maximum penalty of death.

Authorities have given no details of Bujak’s arrest, but a senior Solidarity figure said Bujak and two other Solidarity activists, Konrad Bielinski and Ewa Kulik, were arrested Saturday morning at a Warsaw apartment.

Bujak’s wife, Waclawa, said she planned to go to the military prosecutor’s office in Warsaw today to seek more information about the arrest, to request permission to visit her husband and to deliver a parcel.