2024-02-21 21:29 update: 2024-02-22, 19:08
Fot. PAP/Krzysztof Świderski
Tomasz Komenda, a man who spent 18 years in prison after being wrongly convicted of rape and murder of a 15-year-old girl, has died at the age of 46.
Komenda was sentenced to 25 years in prison in 2004 in what would become one of the most notorious miscarriages of justice in the history of post-communist Poland.
The death of Komenda was initially reported by Grzegorz Gluszak, a journalist from the private broadcaster TVN, and later confirmed to PAP by Prof Zbigniew Cwiakalski, Komenda's attorney.
"It seemed that after these 18 years he had finally gotten his life in order, even more so since his financial situation was in good condition due to the compensation and settlement he had received," Cwiakalski told PAP. "But in fact, fate had in store for him a continuation of the tragedy that led to his death."
He also remembered Komenda was a very quiet and friendly man.
"I never once heard him raise his voice," said the attorney, even though after 18 years in prison "his personality had undergone a change" and it was difficult for him "to adapt to life on the outside."
Komenda was released from prison in March 2018 and the Supreme Court finally acquitted him two months later. (PAP)
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