In brief

• The Catholic University of Lublin has dismissed sinology lecturer Katarzyna Pejda with immediate effect over Facebook comments about the family of the Kraków attacker.
• Pejda's posts mocked the three relatives whose bodies were found in the attacker's home, and the university said her conduct breached its ethical standards.
• The attack on Kraków's Main Market Square left six people dead, including the attacker, and 16 wounded.

University ends contract with lecturer

The rector of the Catholic University of Lublin Jana Pawła II has decided to terminate the employment contract of Dr Katarzyna Pejda, a lecturer at the II Department of Sinology, with immediate effect, the university's spokesperson Wojciech Andrusiewicz said on Tuesday (Wykładowczyni KUL zwolniona. „W sposób niedopuszczalny komentowała śmierć” – RMF24) (KUL zwolnił nauczycielkę akademicką za komentarze po zamachu w Krakowie – Onet) (Wykładowczyni KUL zwolniona dyscyplinarnie. Takie słowa padły po zamachu w Krakowie – Dziennik.pl). The university said her conduct the previous weekend had been unacceptable and clashed with social norms and the values on which the institution is founded (Wykładowczyni KUL zwolniona za wpisy o rodzinie zamachowca. Uczelnia: złamała zasady – Rzeczpospolita).

The posts

Pejda wrote on Facebook "three votes fewer in Konfa" under a report about the discovery of three bodies in the home of the attacker's family (Skandaliczny wpis na temat rodziny zamachowca. KUL zwalnia wykładowczynię – Interia Wydarzenia) (Bulwersujące słowa pani doktor po zamachu. KUL zwolnił wykładowczynię – Wirtualna Polska). When two users criticised the comment, she replied that the tragedy had taken place in Kraków, not in the "nest that raised this rat". The posts have since been removed. The case was made public on social media by a Confederation activist, Rafał Mekler.

The attack and its victims

On Saturday, a 24-year-old man drove a car onto the Main Market Square in Kraków and opened fire on passers-by before police shot and detained him. He died in hospital on Monday. Six people were killed, including the attacker, and 16 were wounded, among them two police officers (KUL zwalnia doktor Pejdę! Napisała skandaliczny wpis po zamachu w Krakowie – dziennikwschodni.pl). Police found the bodies of three members of the attacker's family in his home in Ostrowiec Świętokrzyski, with gunshot wounds.

University statement

In its statement, the university said that respect for human dignity is unacceptable at the institution. Disciplinary proceedings had already been opened against Pejda before the dismissal, according to reports on Sunday (Bulwersujące słowa o rodzinie zamachowca z Krakowa. Władze uczelni wyciągają konsekwencje – Onet).