Poland's last Communist leader Jaruzelski sick with cancer

Mar 25, 2011, 18:55 GMT

Warsaw - Poland's last Communist leader, Wojciech Jaruzelski, has been diagnosed with lymphoma, a cancer of the lymphatic cells in the immune system, reported the PAP news agency citing a hospital spokesman.

The retired general, 87, will begin chemotherapy, said the spokesman at the military hospital where Jaruzelski is being treated. His health was 'good, on average.'

Jaruzelski was hospitalized March 11 with a high fever and a respiratory infection, local media reported last week.

Jaruzelski earlier this month cited bad health when he cancelled plans to attend a May beatification ceremony for the late Polish pope, John Paul II, in Rome. He was bedridden for a prolonged duration in December due to a lung infection and circulatory problems.

Jaruzelski imposed martial law in Communist Poland on December 13, 1981, in an effort to crack down on the Solidarity labour union.

He is a divisive figure in his country, with some considering him a traitor for ordering the crackdown, while others claim that martial law was necessary to avoid a possible Soviet invasion.

Jaruzelski is currently on trial for forming an 'armed criminal organization,' which he allegedly used as head of the Polish military to seize power in 1981. Citing his health, he has not attended many of the court sessions.

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