Warsaw - The former Polish security police officer convicted of the 1984 murder of outspoken anti-communist priest Jerzy Popieluszko was released yesterday after serving a 15-year sentence.
Grzegorz Piotrowski (51) "declined all contact with the media and was released at 5.00 a.m.", said a prison spokesman.
Father Popieluszko (37), chaplain of the Solidarity democracy movement, was strangled and drowned in October1984 by a SB commando unit led by Piotrowski. Two accomplices and an ex-police agent found to have instigated the killing served lesser sentences.
Father Popieluszko represented in the eyes of many Poles the joint struggle against the communist regime by the democratic opposition and the Roman Catholic Church.