Grzegorz Przemyk (17 May 1964 – 14 May 1983) was an aspiring Polish poet from Warsaw, who was murdered by members of the Communist police force, the Milicja Obywatelska (Citizens' Militia).

[1] Przemyk's mother, Barbara Sadowska, a poet and a member of the Workers' Defence Committee, was frequently arrested and questioned by the Polish Secret Service (Służba Bezpieczeństwa, SB) for her activities in the opposition movement.

[1] 12 May 1983 was the day of Grzegorz's graduation from high school, as well as the anniversary of death of Józef Piłsudski, a statesman and leader of the Second Polish Republic, considered a class enemy by the communist authorities.

Around 3 pm, Grzegorz Przemyk and his friends, Cezary Filozof, Piotr Kadlčik [de], Igor Bieliński, and Kuba Kotański, left together to celebrate their graduation at Castle Square in Warsaw's Old Town.

Arkadiusz Denkiewicz, who was the duty officer at the time, came to the room and complained about the noise, instructing them to beat Przemyk more quietly, preferably in the stomach.

The psychiatrist Paweł Willmann then referred the barely conscious Przemyk to a psychiatric hospital for further investigation, explaining that a gastric lavage would be performed and he would "soon get better."

The news about his death quickly spread, and by the evening Sadowska's house was already guarded by a number of policemen, preventing friends arriving with condolences from entering.

The opposition writer and poet Wiktor Woroszylski wrote an open letter to Prime Minister Mieczysław Rakowski calling for a fair and transparent investigation.

On 17 May, the state newspaper Życie Warszawy published a short note about "two drunk and aggressive men" found by police officers on the square that required an ambulance because they "had injuries."

Przemyk's funeral on 19 May, which took place at Powązki Cemetery, and which was officiated by Jerzy Popiełuszko, turned into a spontaneous demonstration against the communist regime, attended by 20,000 to 60,000 people marching in silence.

Prosecutor general Franciszek Rusak, however, published a note in Życie Warszawy mentioning the start of an investigation to "determine the mechanism of injuries" Przemyk suffered.

Paramedics Michał Wysocki and Jacek Szyzdek were also suspected of possibly beating Przemyk in the ambulance or lift, but on 4 July these versions were determined to be impossible after an investigation.

Deputy prosecutor general Henryk Pracki, however, still wanted to include witness statement by Cezary Filozof as it considered it to be logical and consistent with other evidence.

At the same time SB intensified pressure on the family of Cezary Filozof, threatening his parents and relatives with tax-evasion investigations, termination of employment and closing their small businesses.

SB also cooperated with Ministry of Defence to force conscription of Cezary Filozof with the intent to isolate him from the investigation and possibly silence him with an accident during military training.

In November, another forensic pathology opinion is produced by professor Zdzisław Marek which confirmed, in spite of pressure from SB, that Przemyk could have been beaten only at the police station, which further weakened the version of events promoted by the authorities.

Their witness statements also barely confirmed any use of force by paramedics or doctors and Wysocki's behavior while interviewed by the prosecutor gave reason to believe the confession was extorted, as it is completely inconsistent with forensic evidence.

To that end, officer Stanisław Wyciszczak was assigned to devise every possible argument to present the most damning witness statements of Filozof and Kotański as unreliable.

Two unrelated prison doctors, Józef Mielczarek and Stanisław Krzak, were called to testify as medical experts and presented fantastic theories about mental disorders Przemyk must have suffered which, as they claimed, were proven by the fact that he initially denied giving his documents to policemen when ordered.

Their convictions were rendered invalid in 1989 after the fall of communist regime[2] Shortly after, in October 1984, priest Jerzy Popiełuszko was murdered by Grzegorz Piotrowski, an officer of the SB Secret Service.

The case against the policemen dragged on for years and in 2010, after a number of appeals, it was eventually remitted due to expiration, leaving Arkadiusz Denkiewicz as the only convict.

The song "Over My Dead Body" from the 1984 album "Meltdown" from Christian recording artist Steve Taylor was dedicated to the memory of Grzegorz Przemyk.