Poland's last communist leader too ill to continue trial

Poland's last communist leader, General Wojciech Jaruzelski, is to ill to attend two ongoing trials over his role in communist-era crackdowns, a Warsaw court spokesman said Friday, according to dpa. Jaruzelski, 87, faces two trials that have dragged on for years:one for his role in declaring martial law in 1981 in an effort to crack down on the Solidarity labour union, and another on a 1970 crackdown that killed 44 demonstrating workers on the Baltic coast. He will not be able to attend court for at least a year. Both trials can now either exclude Jaruzelski as a defendant, or be suspended. Medical tests were requested in April by the Warsaw court which has been conducting the martial law trial since 2008. Previously, doctors permitted Jaruzelski to take part in the trials for two hours a week. Jaruzelski was diagnosed in March with lymphoma, a cancer of the lymphatic cells in the immune system, and has been undergoing chemotherapy. He is a divisive figure in his country, with some considering him a traitor for declaring martial law, while others said the crackdown was necessary to avoid a possible Soviet invasion.