First Lieutenant Stefan Michnik born 28 September 1929 in Drohobycz (Drohobych, now Ukraine

Ukraine

Ukraine is a country in Eastern Europe. It has an area of 603,628 km², making it the second largest contiguous country on the European continent, after Russia...

) was a Stalinist

Stalinism

Stalinism refers to the ideology that Joseph Stalin conceived and implemented in the Soviet Union, and is generally considered a branch of Marxist–Leninist ideology but considered by some historians to be a significant deviation from this philosophy...

 judge in postwar Poland

Poland

Poland , officially the Republic of Poland , is a country in Central Europe bordered by Germany to the west; the Czech Republic and Slovakia to the south; Ukraine, Belarus and Lithuania to the east; and the Baltic Sea and Kaliningrad Oblast, a Russian exclave, to the north...

, implicated in the arrest, internment and execution of Polish resistance fighters including Major

Major

Major is a rank of commissioned officer, with corresponding ranks existing in almost every military in the world.When used unhyphenated, in conjunction with no other indicator of rank, the term refers to the rank just senior to that of an Army captain and just below the rank of lieutenant colonel. ...

 Jerzy Lewandowski, Major Zefiryn Machalla

Zefiryn Machalla

Zefiryn Machalla , was a major of the Polish Army and participant of the Polish September Campaign. In the interbellum period, his talent was highly praised by the Polish Army Headquarters, for his outstanding bravery, Machalla was nominated for the Virtuti Militari cross.In late 1939, after Polish...

, Colonel

Colonel

Colonel , abbreviated Col or COL, is a military rank of a senior commissioned officer. It or a corresponding rank exists in most armies and in many air forces; the naval equivalent rank is generally "Captain". It is also used in some police forces and other paramilitary rank structures...

 Maksymilian Chojecki and others. Michnik left Poland for Sweden

Sweden

Sweden , officially the Kingdom of Sweden , is a Nordic country on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. Sweden borders with Norway and Finland and is connected to Denmark by a bridge-tunnel across the Öresund....

 during the 1968 Polish political crisis. He lives as a retired librarian in a small town of Storvreta

Storvreta

Storvreta is a locality situated in Uppsala Municipality, Uppsala County, Sweden with 6,083 inhabitants in 2005.-Prehistory:Archeological investigations have found Stone Age and Bronze Age habitations and grave fields in the area...

 near Uppsala

Uppsala

- Economy :Today Uppsala is well established in medical research and recognized for its leading position in biotechnology.*Abbott Medical Optics *GE Healthcare*Pfizer *Phadia, an offshoot of Pharmacia*Fresenius*Q-Med...

. Stefan Michnik is a half-brother of Adam Michnik

Adam Michnik

Adam Michnik is the editor-in-chief of Gazeta Wyborcza, where he sometimes writes under the pen-names of Andrzej Zagozda or Andrzej Jagodziński. In 1966–1989 he was one of the leading organizers of the illegal, democratic opposition in Poland...

.

Since August 2007 the Polish Institute of National Remembrance

Institute of National Remembrance

Institute of National Remembrance — Commission for the Prosecution of Crimes against the Polish Nation is a Polish government-affiliated research institute with lustration prerogatives and prosecution powers founded by specific legislation. It specialises in the legal and historical sciences and...

 deliberated on motion for a request of his extradition

Extradition

Extradition is the official process whereby one nation or state surrenders a suspected or convicted criminal to another nation or state. Between nation states, extradition is regulated by treaties...

. On 25 February 2010 Military Garrison Court in Warsaw

Warsaw

Warsaw is the capital and largest city of Poland. It is located on the Vistula River, roughly from the Baltic Sea and from the Carpathian Mountains. Its population in 2010 was estimated at 1,716,855 residents with a greater metropolitan area of 2,631,902 residents, making Warsaw the 10th most...

 at the request of the investigation division of the IPN issued an official arrest warrant

Arrest warrant

An arrest warrant is a warrant issued by and on behalf of the state, which authorizes the arrest and detention of an individual.-Canada:Arrest warrants are issued by a judge or justice of the peace under the Criminal Code of Canada....

 for Stefan Michnik. In October 2010 Polish prosecutors issued a European Arrest Warrant

European Arrest Warrant

The European Arrest Warrant is an arrest warrant valid throughout all member states of the European Union . Once issued by a member state, it requires the receiving member state to arrest and transfer a criminal suspect or sentenced person to the issuing state so that the person can be put on...

 (EAW) on the same basis. On 18 November 2010 the court in Uppsala refused to extradite Stefan Michnik back to Poland explaining that his criminal acts (see communist crime

Communist crime

Communist crimes , is a legal definition used notably in Polish criminal law. The concept is also used more broadly internationally, and is employed by human rights NGOs as well as government agencies such as the Foundation for the Investigation of Communist Crimes, the Institute for Information on...

) committed in Poland fall under the statute of limitations

Statute of limitations

A statute of limitations is an enactment in a common law legal system that sets the maximum time after an event that legal proceedings based on that event may be initiated...

in Sweden.