[birds tweeting]
[old school hip hop playing]
[yelling]
[laughter]
[Fuja] Peaceful Kraków, or maybe not so much,
because a dangerous species of exotic snake
has started cropping up in various parts of the city.
[hissing]
Suddenly, this reptile expert appears
who is able to deal with them.
His name is Leszek L.
[Góra] He was known in Kraków as a reptile breeder.
He had friends on the police force,
high-ranking ones, too.
I heard from numerous people
that Leszek L. would drop those snakes there himself
and then call the police.
[Frątczak] The officers would then assign him the job
of rounding up these snakes which were quite dangerous.
This was Leszek L's side hustle.
[ominous percussive music playing]
[Fuja] He was dangerous, like a wild animal.
[ominous percussive music continues]
[church bell chimes]
[music fades]
[Frątczak] To me, the whole Leszek L. situation is suspicious.
If you look at the case file, you'll see
he informed on Robert Janczewski not just once, but twice,
as if to make absolutely sure
that the police would focus all their attention on him.
There was a lot of deliberation as to why exactly Leszek did that.
FORMER POLICE OFFICER
Because he didn't exactly come across as a law-abiding citizen
who would do that out of some sense
of civic duty.
To this day, I don't know
why Leszek informed on his colleague.
I do know that he owed him money.
[reporter] The 2.5-meter python was discovered by Alexandra Jachoha
as she was returning from the shop, in a grove by her house.
The snake was over here.
She was frightened because the grove is close to our home.
Children walk to school through here.
[reporter] Officers called Mr. Leszek, the county's local reptile expert.
Mr. Leszek says the reptile was apathetic and cold.
In warmer conditions, it might have been dangerous to humans.
A snake bite could even result in a hand amputation.
I've had several encounters with rattlesnakes, for example.
One was crawling next to the Barbican in Kraków.
Another in the courthouse.
One time, I found a cobra in a housing estate.
People can be irresponsible.
[Beata] I met Leszek at night school.
It was the school in Lubzaska Street.
He had some very interesting hobbies.
He was into diving as well as reptiles and herpetology,
especially snakes.
Our acquaintance deepened but at a certain point it changed
because eventually I started working with him.
[Góra] He'd organize circuits around schools
where he would show off reptiles
from his collection to the students.
He would boast
about how he smuggled exotic animals through the country's border
under his shirt.
He'd brag about how they were wild reptiles
and how he wasn't caught.
Between the years of '81 and '89,
you could say we had somewhat of a friendship.
I mean,
the friendship was pretty one-sided
because I did anything I could do be his friend.
I helped wherever I could.
[Józef] They were friends back in vocational school.
Robert idolized him.
He was much older, stronger,
popular with women and so on.
Maybe not popular per se, but a notorious flirt.
[hissing]
[Góra] Leszek L. treated Robert a bit like dirt, one could say.
Like his servant, keeping him around to do things for him.
Things he didn't have time for
or didn't feel like doing.
[Robert] He wanted a go-to lackey,
someone to fetch the lab mice for his reptiles.
He told me about a job in the animal department
which involved emptying the cages,
putting in woodchips or lining, sanitizing the cages,
basically just cleaning everything.
It really stank, because these were lab animals.
I met Leszek in...
1978, I think.
He was a scuba diver.
In fact, I think he was a three-time Guinness World Record holder.
He would organize these slide shows at his place,
because he would travel the world.
In our post-communist reality, it felt like a different world.
At that time, Leszek was a very likable person.
He would recount his dives, the things he saw.
Sadly, when he would drink,
it was like he became a whole different person.
A bit like Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde.
It was like he was two different people,
totally unrecognizable.
[cocks pistol]
[Robert] When he would drink he would become unpredictable.
One time at his place,
he took a drag on a cigarette
and then extinguished it on his forearm.
And he goes,
"One tough son of a bitch, ain't I?"
This happened right before Christmas
in '93.
That was the last we saw of each other.
[Góra] He was skilled with knives, particularly with skinning.
He could remove the skin from an animal
with surgical precision.
One surmises he'd also be able to remove the skin with equal precision
from a human being,
just as skillfully.
[rock music plays over headphones]
We are Maciej Kleczek and friends, getting warmed up!
[rock music plays over PA system]
[Maciej] In the late '90s, Kornet was a place...
where life was really happening.
ACQUAINTANCE OF LESZEK L.
Someone who always had interesting stories
was none other than Leszek.
"Come on over, I want to show you something.
I live nearby."
In retrospect it feels like something out of a horror film.
There was this one light bulb, barely 15 or 30 watts,
creating this dark, spooky ambiance
and an entire wall covered with the bones and skins of various animals
likely tanned by Leszek himself.
He knew how to do that.
[plucked string music playing]
The last room is filled floor-to-ceiling with terrariums.
Crocodile on the bottom.
There's a cobra in the cage to the right.
On the left, a tropical rattlesnake.
And at the very top, a black mamba.
He opens one of the cages.
Inside is this huge snake.
I found out later it was a python.
He had a reticulated python
named Kaszka.
[hissing]
I see this crocodile zipping from room to room, hiding behind the sofa.
I'm like, "What the hell is going on? What is this place?"
The crocodile hid behind the sofa and started growling like a dog.
About this big.
Then Leszek grabbed it
and held this crocodile's head right up against mine.
Suddenly, chomp!
In my arm I feel blood trickling.
It fucking bit me!
He goes, "Don't be such a baby.
You're fine."
He puts the crocodile away.
"Damn, it really did fucking bite you."
You can see it.
He says, "You know,
you'd better not tell anyone."
Then he adds, "You know what? No one will believe you anyway."
And he laughs.
He seemed to have completely lost it at some point.
[upbeat jingle]
[audience applauding]
Our wonderful neighbor shot me.
Luckily he missed me by about three meters.
I only have surface burns on my face, because had it been--
- "Only?" - Only.
We felt powerless so we contacted the television.
A talk show. Two other neighbors and I.
Aren't those animals out of control?
The neighbor's snake got out of its cage.
We found it in a cellar wrapped around a doorknob.
[whistling]
My husband says, "Damn it, this is getting dangerous."
So I did it, I called the police
because I was afraid for my child.
The police came by. They went over.
Said, "Don't you worry, it's taken care of."
Leszek found out who called the police.
He came downstairs and said,
"If you call the police again I'll make you regret it."
He's worked with the police
so no doubt, he's friends with many of them.
[ominous percussive music playing]
[Góra] He partied with them.
Even when Katarzyna was missing,
Leszek spent New Year's Eve
and New Year's Day with the Kraków policemen.
Many police officers,
including high-ranking ones, were good friends with him.
Leszek L. would also tell all sorts of stories
about inviting young girls to his place
and making it impossible for them to leave.
One tactic was to wrap one of his snakes
around the doorknob so they'd be too scared to touch it.
I've heard from women who knew Leszek L.
They said he could be quite violent
and he would sometimes beat them.
[tense pulsing music playing]
[Beata] Something was not right in that head of his.
We can't rule out that his mind turned to perversion.
He might have thought, "I've skinned a snake, so why not a human?"
Would Leszek be capable of skinning a person?
I think so.
I owned a few fish,
so about twice a week,
I'd visit Leszek's pet shop.
One day I came in, turned around,
and hiding behind the fish tanks I see the face...
of a woman.
Her hair was down. It was a bit reddish.
Next to her, I see a guy I didn't know.
[interviewer] Did that person look like this one?
Please take a look.
Yes, that's her, except she had her hair down.
She was there at the shop. I'm 100 percent certain.
100 percent.
It's hard for me to connect the skinning of a dead snake
with what happened to Kasia.
[Sitarski] There was no way to prove that Leszek was connected to the case.
- Did you search his apartment? - I don't remember.
[Ewa] I remember it like it was yesterday,
- But the date? - No.
Could you remind me what year his pet shop shut down for good?
Because I can't remember.
I see. '98.
[Frątczak] It's safe to say Leszek himself won't be much help
because he died back in '07 due to complications caused by alcoholism.
It needs to be said that Leszek is an easy target
because he isn't here to defend himself.
So it's easy for us to make assumptions or jump to conclusions.
[Frątczak] It's easy to look at someone like Leszek
and think him a suspect.
Due to the way the investigation was conducted, we will never know.
[ominous drone music playing]
[bell rings]
[Chojniak] I feel more like a prosecutor than a defense attorney.
An appeal is indeed an indictment
made by the defense
against the police, the prosecution
and the court.
And I say this, Your Honor, with strong conviction,
that I bear the full weight...
that I accuse these parties
of ignoring the truth at a minimum.
There isn't even any circumstantial evidence.
I will not engage
in any theatrics today.
I will not crack jokes.
I will not try to make the court laugh.
Because this case isn't like that.
I plan to remain serious and respectful,
unlike the defense.
In the courtroom, I could never predict what the prosecution
was going to come up with that day.
What they were going to try.
They created a spider web
of meaningless pseudo-evidence,
of conjecture.
One day, they claim he murdered her in his apartment,
the next, that she was at the allotment,
the whereabouts of which are unknown.
He'd have to shuffle her between the apartment and the allotment.
How? On his bike? Must have been, since he can't drive.
[percussive music playing]
[creak]
ROBERT JANCZEWSKI'S FRIEND, POET
I was notified in writing by Prosecutor Krupinski,
instructing me to keep available all spaces in my allotment in Balice.
I didn't know Robert.
He and his father came here, once to paint my window bars
and once to restore the frames, for payment, of course.
Józef Janczewski was, at least for a short while
an acquaintance of my wife Halyna Kutela.
We were both poets, him and I.
The prosecutor's theory was that Robert
got the allotment keys from his father,
because Józef had the keys
to spend the weekend with Halyna,
and that therefore allowed Robert to commit the crime,
this murder.
This is why the prosecutor wrecked my entire allotment.
Here there used to be a pond.
As you can see, it's all been dug up and destroyed.
They were supposed to restore it
but I don't think the prosecutor will be coming here any time soon.
He said, "We've found it." I asked, "What?"
They lift the tarp. There she is, my dead kitty!
Come on, Rudolf. Don't be scared.
Here, kitty! No one's going to hurt you. Come on.
Because of what the police were doing, a rumor spread
that they'd found 14 bodies,
that these murders happened at the poet's house.
Just like that, my reputation was totally destroyed.
I'll be honest,
I was mad at him and I still am.
I wrote a poem for a certain Mr. Prosecutor Krupinski, "P.K."
O Lady Justice, without your blindfold
lift up your sword and weigh the deeds
of such-and-such
and punish him according to what is lawful and just.
Amen.
[tense pulsing music playing]
The amount of evidence that was allowed when it should not have been
proves the fact...
that "innocent until proven guilty" was not applied here.
There was a belief that they had already caught the perpetrator
and that all that was left to do was, as Mr. Znamiec put it,
"perform the theatrics of an investigation."
For it was theater, not an investigation.
In this theater everyone has their role.
Let us stick to these roles.
And here,
Your Honor, I'd like to make an appeal to the media,
so that they, the media
remember to stick to their role.
During the appeal, Krupinski stood up,
pointed his finger at Michał, next to me,
and said, "You have it all wrong, it's not what you think it is."
I can say to Mr. Fuja, the journalist here today
whom might have been manipulated, I don't know.
I don't want to get into that.
But Your Honor,
these allegations
are an attempt at manipulation
contrary to the body of evidence
which created an inaccurate impression of a cruel prosecutor,
a cruel policeman,
of cruel law enforcement.
The defense's closing argument drew attention
to why the polygraph test wasn't credible,
why it shouldn't be taken into account at all.
In the most stressful of situations,
because being arrested would be stressful to anyone,
wouldn't it,
you decide to conduct a polygraph test in the evening.
Who performs a test like this at this hour?
Who?
These tests must not, Your Honor,
from an objective viewpoint, be given any form of serious credibility
because from a methodological perspective,
they were conducted with blatant disregard
to the test's very own requirements.
For his closing argument, Prosecutor Krupinski got up
and said that the test had been performed properly
and that he could prove it.
He explained he had filmed the polygraph test
and he then played us an excerpt of it.
And what we saw there...
[Bieńkuński] I'm stating for the record
that you have agreed to partake in this polygraph test.
I will hand you the statement stating you agree to this test.
During the time the test is being conducted,
you agree to answer questions
pertaining to the murder of Katarzyna Zowada.
The other issue in question
is whether you consent for this polygraph test to be recorded
and registered on video
and kept in posterity as evidence
so that later, there is no concern from either the defense or prosecution
that I have suggested anything to you or mistreated you in any way.
This might include refusing to allow you to take a break,
to use the bathroom, and so on.
It's fine. I've just been to the bathroom.
So you consent to being filmed?
Do whatever you wish.
[tense music builds]
Good evening.
Bieńkuński? Michał Fuja.
- We've met before-- - We have?
Well, maybe.
You consider yourself Poland's most widely recognized expert
in the science behind polygraph tests.
I'm brought onto the most serious cases,
POLYGRAPH OPERATOR
covered by national media, the more notorious cases.
Is it true that the person tested should be warned in advance,
not right at the time the test is being given?
- That the questions are yes or no? - That's up to the investigators.
They're the ones who decide.
But the Supreme Court has stated this should not be done.
They're supposed to state to the person being tested,
"This test is optional. Do you agree to continue?
You have the right to stop the test at any time."
That is how a real expert handles it.
[Bieńkuński] Do you count on being able to cheat the device?
No. I have nothing to hide.
The reason I ask this question is because...
I always warn people who think they can cheat the test.
If the truth is different from what's been stated
then, to put it in colloquial terms,
you might as well just go on home instead.
Any deliberate deception will be used against you in court.
I'm going to reveal any attempt at lying by means of this test,
but, as you have claimed, you have nothing to do with this crime
so you have nothing to fear from taking this test, right?
- Yes. - Alright.
Is this a disclaimer, or is this just pressure to take the test?
You want to make me your lightning rod!
No! No!
As if it's my fault he sat down and let himself be questioned.
My role was merely to...
He agreed to the test. He had his rights read out.
When did you learn that Robert was being treated psychiatrically,
that he has schizophrenia and is on medication for it?
When did I learn?
It certainly would have been before the test.
Before?
In interviews, you say that mental illness
can interfere with the results.
Mental illness?
Well, you see...
From the assessment I read,
I don't have the information to know if the doctors
had actually diagnosed him with a mental illness.
They did, with schizophrenia, in 1992.
I don't know if it said if he's...
if he has some sort of psychological defect,
but it wasn't...
specifically defined for me.
But you were supposed to know
if it was mental illness or some minor disorder.
If the phrase "mentally ill" had been there,
if it said he was mentally ill,
I wouldn't have performed the test.
[Fuja] Does this mean the prosecutor was hiding Robert's illness?
The expert had already tested many other people
who were also involved in this case.
A dozen, maybe more.
When you examined the detective, the one hired by the mother,
new information came to light.
Then you tested the principal of Robert's school.
There too, he might have been keeping crucial information.
You can't rule out his involvement.
Jacek has information he's kept secret regarding certain circumstances
of the murder of Katarzyna Zowada
and the people involved.
Zbigniew, it is highly likely
that Zbigniew has hidden information in this case.
Konrad, same situation.
Grzegorz has information he's kept secret
and one cannot rule out his involvement.
Leszek has hidden information.
Whoever crossed Mr. Janczewski's path
possessed secret information.
I advise you not to take this test.
If I made such conclusions
on this case with these people, it then means
that to a certain extent, those persons, at a certain point,
within the investigation of this crime,
might have had this information
and were refusing to divulge it.
[Fuja] There were countless persons of interest in this case.
This one man was denounced by his own colleagues.
This man was a researcher
who supposedly had, among many other specimens,
a woman's finger in a jar.
He gets a subpoena.
He's welcomed in by the cold cases team.
He's asked to take a polygraph test. He agrees.
In his lab, he has piles of tissue samples.
He goes into depth about the origins of each.
It's quickly proven that the finger didn't even come from a woman.
Do you remember this researcher
from Jagiellonian University
who worked with tissue?
There was one, but--
You did. You tested him too.
"Based on peak of tension tests, one can conclude
this individual fears divulging his involvement
in the murder of Katarzyna."
He loses all composure.
He's a broken man, physically and psychologically.
He doesn't know what will happen,
doesn't know how or why he got caught up in the case.
The prosecutor requests
that the police inform the Jagiellonian University
about this man who did his research there
being in the center of a murder case, years prior.
[haunting music playing]
On September 8, 2018,
two and a half months after his name was dragged through the mud,
this man is unable to take the pressure anymore.
He commits suicide.
He turned out to be innocent, not involved at all.
How do we know if he was guilty or not?
The prosecutor confirmed for me that the person had been libeled
and had nothing to do with the case.
What's even more interesting is that this happened
six months after Robert's arrest,
right when the prosecution was trying to convince us
they were 100 percent certain that Robert was Katarzyna's killer.
[murmur of voices]
[Frątczak] I remember that moment in the courtroom,
all of us waiting for the verdict.
Just as the finish line was in sight,
they threw a curveball.
This court has decided to reopen the appeal proceedings
by conducting an additional public hearing of persons
who until now had the status of anonymous witnesses in this case.
Evidence from anonymous testimonies is so important and crucial
that any doubt to their testimony would in fact
completely undermine the whole verdict,
and the entire trial would have to be repeated all over again.
The degree of anonymization was such that we had no idea
what was said by these witnesses.
We would get transcripts
which were redacted throughout, basically from start to finish.
Two anonymous witnesses of particular significance,
numbers 22018 and 42018.
It turned out these anonymous witnesses were two women
who used to be Robert's neighbors.
[pulsing music playing]
I have a sick child. Could we make this quick?
[Judge] Does the witness, in any of the photographs before her,
recognize the woman who she claims to have seen with the defendant?
Please approach.
It is this one.
[Krupinski] A late autumn evening in 1998,
a night both mother and daughter will remember forever.
On this day, they both rush out into the stairwell
of the apartment building where they reside
and where, on the same floor,
another apartment is occupied by their neighbor
Robert Janczewski.
He's a strange man, described as dangerous.
None of his neighbors can recall ever seeing him with a girl.
This evening,
the mother and daughter see two people walking upstairs.
One is the defendant,
Robert Janczewski,
The other one, a young woman.
Her hood was up
but you could see blonde hair sticking out from under it.
I was still in primary school.
When Mom saw that woman's picture on TV
on some program about missing people,
we noticed that the woman on TV
also had a pale face and blonde hair.
A pale face?
She was identified based on her pale face?
A scary thing, to have a fair complexion!
We're dealing with a witness who was six or seven years old
at the time of the event.
This doesn't automatically mean that her memory is inaccurate
but we do need to consider this and proceed with caution.
It's simple. I had a good memory as a child.
[Judge] And do you remember what you and your mom
were both wearing that day
when you passed the defendant on the stairs?
[Porebski] Be mindful of the fact
that human memory is notoriously unreliable.
Human memory is a process,
and each time you recall an event,
it is possible your mind modifies it a little.
It is a myth that human memory works like a video camera,
filming what you're seeing.
[Judge] You stated earlier that she was taller than Janczewski.
- Did I say that? - It's in the record.
I really don't know. Maybe someone made an error.
Witness Ewa
would then be visited by police.
They came for a cup of tea
to talk about Robert, the killer.
No subtleties,
so that everyone would know, "Robert, the killer,"
and her, his victim.
Is this how investigations are now conducted in this country?
Before you question a witness
you have a cup of tea with them and tell them exactly
what's going on with the investigation?
The problem with the case is not whether they recognized Katarzyna
in the pictures.
They in fact did recognize her.
The issue is that before the questioning took place,
they were personally coached by the police,
given pep talks,
where it's likely they were given the opportunity
to familiarize themselves with images
which were widely published in the media.
I don't know if it's this exact woman
but he was certainly going upstairs with a woman.
I'm not sure.
Something is said, written down, and that creates a problem.
I'm a security guard and I just got off a 24-hour shift.
I'm tired.
The testifying witness, Ewa,
blurted out,
"I regret having met the defendant
on that staircase,
because if I hadn't, I wouldn't be going through this today.
Nothing can be said
that would be more convincing as to the validity of her testimony.
[Chojniak] One was unsure, which means the whole deal was doubtful.
The other one, in turn, was disproportionately certain.
She even said at one point...
I also saw the side of her face
and the truth is, it simply matched the photo.
I'm sure that he was linking arms with her then.
[Judge] And this remains unyielding to this day?
How many more times are you going to ask me that, Your Honor?
The witnesses cannot, as the court can see,
based on the quality of their testimony,
withstand scrutiny.
In cases involving so much serious doubt,
one must take care
not to tailor the interpretation of evidence to suit your own purposes
or preconceptions
or to suit a thesis posed in events.
[interviewer] Have you ever been on the stairwell with a girl?
Yes.
- Yes? - Yes.
But not with the one whose murder I'm being suspected of.
As stated by anonymous witnesses,
two people supposedly claim they somehow saw me
with Katarzyna Zowada.
Who were you with on the staircase?
There was a certain person
but I won't be going into details about her here.
[Matkowski] If it turned out that Robert was guilty,
this would be a huge defeat for me.
It would be a major blow.
ROBERT JANCZEWSKI'S PSYCHIATRIST AND THERAPIST
Yes.
A professional defeat
as a therapist to a patient,
who knows them intimately.
But at least it wouldn't be the first one in my life.
[Fuja] If, after all, he did this, it means I let myself be fooled twice.
It would be the end of my career.
Both times I'd have been completely wrong and unaware of it.
The defendant may proceed.
Your Honor, I would like to say something in closing.
[tense percussive music playing]
May I?
Your Honor,
my name is Robert Janczewski.
I am not the skinner.
I am not the beast.
I am not a monster.
I did not kill anyone.
I did not hurt anyone.
I am a human being and a citizen of this country
whom law enforcement has been trying, for nearly a quarter of a century,
to implicate in the case of Katarzyna Zowada's murder.
I address the court directly
because this is my last chance to get justice.
I've been harassed by policemen
who told me outright that they knew I was the killer.
The more I clung to my innocence,
the more Commissioner Michalec insisted
that it only further proved my guilt.
To the end of my days, I will speak the truth.
I did not kill Katarzyna Zowada.
"I did not kill" means I did not kill.
Contrary to Michalec's belief,
the words "I did not kill" are not imprinted on the soul
after a crime is committed,
but are the words of desperation.
In fact, I am screaming to whoever may listen to me,
believe me, I did not do it.
I've been in detention for seven years.
This has been seven years of hell.
Each day, I wake up yearning for the day
when this nightmare will end.
Today, my fate is in Your Honor's hands.
I beg you for an acquittal.
No other verdict in this trial would be a just one.
[crows cawing]
[eerie music playing]
[murmur of voices]
[Robert] For his sorrowful passion, have mercy on us and on the world.
For his sorrowful passion,
have mercy on us and on the whole world.
For his sorrowful passion,
have mercy...
[tense pulsing music playing]
[judge] We will now proceed with the verdict.
Therefore,
I will ask everyone to rise.
A verdict on behalf of the Republic of Poland.
On the 31st of October, 2024,
the Appellate Court,
pursuant to Article 414, paragraph 1
of the Code of Criminal Procedure,
relating to Article 17, paragraph 1.1
of the Code of Criminal Procedure...
acquits the defendant Robert Janczewski
of the deed as charged in the indictment.
This ruling is legally binding and means
the defendant in this case in now a free person.
[metallic rumble]
[ethereal piano music playing]
[Chojniak] I felt those seven years of believing in the case,
of holding onto hope,
of not succumbing to public opinion,
and not succumbing to the system, the court...
I felt, after those seven years, that this unjust system had ended.
[Fuja] The court acquitted Janczewski after seven years in detention.
Do you feel guilty because he spent those years wrongly convicted?
You should feel guilty for making programs
which are suggestive or, you could say,
inspired by the defense.
Thank you very much.
It isn't a bad system, but there are individuals
who, for various reasons, act the way they do,
in such a way as to convict someone at any cost.
It's not as though the police will come for me or any of us
and say point-blank, "You're a murderer"
because there are many reasons
why we don't make good victims for them.
A good victim is one who is utterly defenseless.
[ethereal music continues]
- Good morning. - [Chojniak] Good morning.
Fasten the seatbelt, okay?
Yes, of course.
How are you feeling, Mr. Robert?
- Has it sunk in yet? - Yes, yes.
Because for us, it still hasn't.
- I'm sorry, but-- - The gentleman here can help.
- To pull it. - [Chojniak] We have time.
On the one hand, I felt in my bones
that you would hold on.
But at the same time, paradoxically, I was really afraid for you.
I thank you for being such a decent man. Really.
I promised that no matter what, I won't leave you.
- Remember? - I do.
I repeated it to myself hundreds of times.
"You are not alone. I will get you out. Just hold on."
[Chojniak] This will stay with me until the end.
I remember arriving at the place where we'd arranged to meet
Robert's mother.
We thank you from our hearts. We're in your debt.
No need to thank me. No need to thank me.
Stay here for a moment. I'm going to take care of some formalities.
We'll head upstairs shortly.
- And have a chat in peace? - Yes.
- Wait here a minute, okay? - Of course.
I thought to myself then,
that this is the most beautiful thing about this job.
In this line of work,
not only is it very interesting,
the law, the court disputes,
but heck, you can also do some good.
Because there was good in there.
There was simply something good in there.
[Matkowski] A reasonable goal for Robert now is just to survive.
For Robert to gradually stand on his own feet again,
for him to see some hope,
eventually regain the sense
that he has some influence
over his own life.
All the best. Stay in touch.
If Mr. Michalec is searching for imprints on the soul,
I think this investigation, the way it was handled,
the harm done to Robert,
the unnecessary seven-year detention,
this all left an imprint on his soul.
Now we know who didn't do it,
but in fact we should be even more concerned now
because this means the perpetrator
might still be out there.
[Fuja] Something keeps bugging me which came up early on in the case.
An expertise from February of 2007
by the Department of Forensic Medicine.
"At the Jagiellonian University's medical school,
Katarzyna Z. sustained massive multiple organ trauma
consistent with being hit by a car
or having fallen from a great height."
[Frątczak] In December of 1997,
Katarzyna then attempted to take her own life.
For over two hours she sat on the dam,
in Dabie, where the following year her remains would be found,
and contemplated jumping into the Vistula and drowning.
So it can't be ruled out that maybe the perpetrator simply found her body,
skinned it,
and threw the skin into the Vistula.
This is the problem.
Due to how badly the investigation was conducted
we will never learn what happened.
Moreover, as a result,
it turns out that an innocent man was needlessly harassed
for 25 years.
I don't agree with sentencing people to life
unless there is unwavering proof of their guilt.
As a society we shouldn't stand for this.
We shouldn't stand for it as journalists.
This is our job, to keep those in power in check.
Those in power meaning
not just politicians but also the police and prosecutors.
[haunting music playing]
[Robert] I have this dream to meet someone.
At some point in my life to cross paths with someone.
Someone nice.
A person who could...
make me happy, who could let in...
a ray of sunshine...
into my life with her smile.
[sighs]
For whom I could care with every breath I take,
for the rest of my life.
[sniffles]
I'm missing those years now, those 25 years.
Because I had plans for my life! I was only 35 years old!
Now I'm 60.
Is this my fault?
Then whose fault is this?
[discordant piano music playing]