Bolek files

Poland's Walesa views files alleging he was a communist spy

Poland's Solidarity freedom hero Lech Walesa today viewed the secret police files that allegedly prove he was a paid communist spy, prosecutors said, adding that the former president again denied their authenticity. 

"Documents related to the collaboration of a secret agent codenamed 'Bolek' were shown to Lech Walesa," said the Institute of National Remembrance (IPN), which prosecutes Nazi and communist-era crime. 

The 72-year-old "denied the authenticity of the documents," the IPN said in a statement, adding that it would now go ahead with handwriting analysis to see if the Nobel Peace laureate's signature matches that of the files. 

Walesa has been battling the allegations since February, when the IPN seized the previously unknown regime documents from 1970-76 from the widow of a communist-era general. 

Walesa, who is renowned for negotiating a bloodless end to communism in Poland in 1989, denounced the files as "complete fakes" at the time and said he "didn't cooperate" with the secret police.