Martial law in Poland martial law had been imposed in clear violation of the country's constitution which had authorized the executive to declare martial law only between parliamentary sessions (at other times the decision was to be taken by the Sejm). However, the Sejm had been in session at the time when martial law was instituted. In 1992 the Sejm declared the 1981 imposition of martial law to be unlawful and unconstitutional. The instigators of the martial law, such as Wojciech Jaruzelski, argue that the army crackdown rescued Poland from a possibly disastrous military intervention of the Soviet Union, East Germany, and other Warsaw
Wojciech Jaruzelski mostly concerned with the illegal imprisonment of people. A second charge involved inciting state ministers to commit acts beyond their competence. Jaruzelski evaded most court appearances citing poor health. In December 2010, Jaruzelski suffered from severe pneumonia, and in March 2011, he was diagnosed with lymphoma. Jaruzelski died on 25 May 2014, in a Warsaw hospital after suffering a stroke earlier that month. Prior to his death, he reportedly requested last rites by a Catholic priest. President Bronisław Komorowski and former Presidents Lech Wałęsa and Aleksander Kwaśniewski as well as hundreds of other Poles attended his funeral mass at the