A Polish court has cleared the way to extradite an Oxford don's wife who is accused of fabricating evidence to hang a Second World War hero.

The Polish Supreme Court yesterday said its Military Chamber found enough evidence to support an arrest warrant against Helena Wolinska, 79, of north Oxford. Poland can now seek the extradition of Wolinska, who has lived in Britain since 1972 and is a British citizen. She is married to Wlodzimierz Brus, professor emeritus of modern Russian and East European studies at Oxford University. In January, the Supreme Court in Warsaw lifted the first warrant and asked the military court to reconsider the case, saying the warrant did not specify the reason for arresting Wolinska and lacked evidence.

The military court said it was highly probable that Wolinska, a communist-era prosecutor in Poland, was responsible for the wrongful arrest and subsequent execution of General Emil Fieldorf, who led the Polish underground Home Army that fought the Nazis. After the war, he refused to collaborate with the secret service of the new communist regime. Evidence shows Fieldorf was falsely imprisoned and interrogated about the Polish anti-communist underground during the war, according to the military court. Fieldorf was charged in 1952 with killing Soviet soldiers and anti-Nazi fighters from Poland's communist underground and was hung in 1953. Historians say Wolinska made up the charges.

Mrs Wolinska, of Jewish descent, has called the move to arrest her "a political case" and said she feared she would not get a fair trial in Poland.

If convicted, Wolinska could be sentenced to up to ten years in prison.

Story date: Saturday 13 March

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