The Polish co-producer of the Oscar-winning film "Schindler's List," who served part of a two-year prison sentence on bribery charges before being temporarily released for health reasons, was returned to jail Thursday.
Police took Lew Rywin into custody after a Warsaw district court ordered his arrest, saying Rywin was creating obstacles to the execution of his prison term. Rywin was sentenced last year to two years in prison, but only served two months before his sentence was temporarily suspended for health reasons.
Rywin, 59, was convicted last year of trying to solicit a US$17.5 million bribe from a leading newspaper, Gazeta Wyborcza, in 2002.
In exchange, the court said he promised to use his influence to get a new law passed that would have allowed the paper's publisher to buy a nationwide broadcaster.
The court said Rywin falsely claimed to represent Leszek Miller, the prime minister at the time, and an unspecified "group holding power." It sentenced him to two years in prison and fined him 100,000 zlotys (about US$30,000).
Dubbed "Rywingate," the affair, along with a series of other scandals, led to Miller's resignation in 2004. He was succeeded by Marek Belka.
Rywin's Heritage Films co-produced "Schindler's List" by director Steven Spielberg in 1993 and Roman Polanski's "The Pianist," which was honoured at the Cannes Film Festival in 2002.
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