A Killing Near Wrocław’s Stadium

While Śląsk Wrocław played Arka Gdynia on 30 March 2003, supporters fought near the stadium in Wrocław. Mariusz B., an Arka supporter, was stabbed and died in hospital. Several other people were seriously injured.

The initial police account described men armed with axes and knives, some of whom threw stones at officers before police brought the violence under control. More than 120 people were reported arrested. Police spokesman Ryszard Zareba said three injured people were being kept in hospital overnight.

Prosecutors later said Tomasz P. had travelled to Wrocław specifically to join a fight planned long in advance. In his final statement to the court, he said he had come to take part in a supporters’ brawl, but that no one was supposed to die. He asked for a lenient sentence.

Tomasz P., a Śląsk sympathizer, admitted bringing a knife, which he said he always carried. The court found that he struck Mariusz B. while the victim had his back turned and was being attacked by other participants. Mariusz B. died from three stab wounds. After learning that an Arka supporter had died, Tomasz P. burned his clothes and destroyed the knife. He moved from Kraków to Rzeszów and was detained in early 2004.

In October 2005, Wrocław’s Regional Court sentenced Tomasz P., then 24, to 10 years in prison for killing Mariusz B. Prosecutors had sought 15 years. A second defendant, Tomasz M., was convicted of participating in a brawl resulting in death—not of the killing—and received a sentence of one year and 10 months, suspended for four years.

Explaining the judgment, Judge Elżbieta Sztenc said Tomasz P. did not know Mariusz B. and there had been no dispute between them. The court found that he understood Mariusz B. could die and accepted that possibility. After striking him, Tomasz P. ran off and continued taking part in the violence. He neither helped Mariusz B. nor called an ambulance.