The Polish Supreme Court yesterday rejeted an appeal to quash the sentence of the Lemberg Jewish citizen Moische Katz, who was sentenced in November, 19332, to serve six years in prison for the allged murder of the Polish student Jan Grotkowski.
Katz was tried together with two other Jews, J. Tune and N. Shmer. They were freed, but katz was sentenced to a four-year prison term. Katz consistently maintained his innocence and denied participation in the crime. When he as retried, he brought many witnesses to prove his innocence. However, the court refused to believe the new evidence and increased his sentence to six years in jail.
The case took a sensational turn recently when the brother of the nurdered man, a Catholic priest, visited the family of Moische Katz and declared that he was convinced of Katz’s innocence. The priest said tht his dead brother had appeared to him in dreams and the victim of a miscarriage of justice.
The priest also visited officials of the courts and the government and told them the story declaring that the dreams in which his brother appeared gave him no rest and had strengthened his determanition to reveal the truth.
The chief prosecutor of Lemberg, Dr. Dembitzki, then took up the case and with the assistance of the courts began a new investigation of the whole affair. The decision of the whole affair. court is a blow to many in Lemberg, Jews and non-Jews, who were convinced of the innocence of Katz.
Grotkowski was killed in a street6 affray with an unidentified gang as he and several companions were returning duringearly morning hours from a drinking bout.
The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.
