Pope satirist convicted in Poland
One of Poland's best known newspaper editors has been fined $6,500 (£3,457) for criticising Pope John Paul II.
A court in Warsaw found Jerzy Urban guilty of insulting a head of state by writing a satirical article on the eve of the pontiff's 2002 visit to Poland.
Mr Urban insisted he was exercising the right to free expression.
Ahead of the trial, the press freedom group Reporters without Borders said a prosecution would set a "dangerous precedent" for a European Union state.
A former spokesman for the last communist government of Poland, 71-year-old Mr Urban is now better known as the editor-in-chief of the weekly newspaper Nie - which means No in English.
Complaints
In his article, titled Walking Sadomasochism, Mr Urban referred to the Pope's frailty, describing him as "the Brezhnev of the Vatican" and an "impotent old man".
When published ahead of the Polish-born Pope's last visit to his homeland in 2002 it provoked numerous complaints.
"The court has no doubts that intending to ridicule the church, Jerzy Urban ridiculed and derided the pope," the verdict said, according to The Associated Press.
Opponents of Mr Urban, who attended the trial, shouted "too little" when the fine was announced, the agency reports. Prosecutors had requested a 10-month suspended prison sentence.
The BBC's Adam Easton in Warsaw says the Pope's standing among Poles is so high that almost any public criticism of the Pope is taboo.
