U.S. judge orders Polish murder suspect freed

By Andrew Stern

CHICAGO (Reuters) - A U.S. judge denied a request on Friday from Poland's government to extradite a Chicago businessman for allegedly soliciting the murder of a former Warsaw police chief, denouncing the key witness as "a known scoundrel" and chastising prosecutors over faulty evidence.

Polish authorities, represented by U.S. prosecutors, failed to produce proof required under treaties to justify the extradition of Edward Mazur, U.S. Magistrate Judge Arlander Keys said in his scathing 69-page ruling.

Mazur, 62, arrived in court shackled but wept with joy when the judge ordered him freed after being held for nine months in a U.S. jail, his lawyer said.

"I had argued that this was a frame-up but the court ruled the evidence was essentially worthless, that it was meaningless," attorney Chris Gair said.

A call to Poland's embassy in Washington seeking comment was not immediately returned.

Patrick Fitzgerald, the U.S. Attorney in Chicago, said: "While we respect the Magistrate Judge's thoughtful opinion, we respectfully disagree with the result."

Mazur was arrested soon after the 1998 murder of Marek Papala, a former commander general of the Warsaw Police Department who was shot in a parking lot next to his home.

Mazur, who had seen Papala earlier in the evening, was questioned by Polish authorities but released.