Barbara Maria Blida (born Barbara Szwajnoch on 3 December 1949 in Siemianowice Śląskie, died 25 April 2007 in Siemianowice Śląskie) was a Polish left-wing politician, long-time Member of the Sejm, the lower chamber of Polish parliament, and a former Minister for Construction and Spatial Management, and later a construction industry executive. Image File history File links No higher resolution available. ... The Sejm building in Warsaw. ... July 4 is the 185th day of the year (186th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 1989 (MCMLXXXIX) was a common year starting on Sunday (link displays 1989 Gregorian calendar). ... October 18 is the 291st day of the year (292nd in leap years). ... 2005 (MMV) was a common year starting on Saturday of the Gregorian calendar. ... October 26 is the 299th day of the year (300th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 1993 (MCMXCIII) was a common year starting on Friday (link will display full 1993 Gregorian calendar). ... December 31 is the 365th day of the year (366th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 1996 (MCMXCVI) was a leap year starting on Monday (link will display full 1996 Gregorian calendar). ... Jerzy Janusz Kropiwnicki (5. ... December 3 is the 337th (in leap years the 338th) day of the year in the Gregorian calendar. ... 1949 (MCMXLIX) was a common year starting on Saturday (the link is to a full 1949 calendar). ... Siemianowice ÅšlÄ…skie is a town in south Poland with 78,100 inhabitants (1995). ... April 25 is the 115th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar (116th in leap years). ... 2007 (MMVII) is the current year, a common year starting on Monday of the Gregorian calendar and the AD/CE era. ... Siemianowice ÅšlÄ…skie is a town in south Poland with 78,100 inhabitants (1995). ... Alliance of the Democratic Left ( Polish: Sojusz Lewicy Demokratycznej, SLD) is one of the main Polish social democratic political parties, established on April 15, 1999. ... December 3 is the 337th (in leap years the 338th) day of the year in the Gregorian calendar. ... 1949 (MCMXLIX) was a common year starting on Saturday (the link is to a full 1949 calendar). ... Siemianowice ÅšlÄ…skie is a town in south Poland with 78,100 inhabitants (1995). ... April 25 is the 115th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar (116th in leap years). ... 2007 (MMVII) is the current year, a common year starting on Monday of the Gregorian calendar and the AD/CE era. ... The Sejm building in Warsaw. ... A parliament is a legislature, especially in those countries whose system of government is based on the Westminster system modelled after that of the United Kingdom. ...

Political and professional career

Barbara Blida graduated in 1976 from the Faculty of Sanitary Engineering of the Silesian University of Technology. Despite her family traditions, she joined the then-ruling communist Polska Zjednoczona Partia Robotnicza as early as 1969, and remained a member until its dissolution 1990. She later continued to be a member of its political succesors, the Socjaldemokracja Rzeczypospolitej Polskiej (1990-1999) and Sojusz Lewicy Demokratycznej (1999-2004). Silesian University of Technology (Polish name: Politechnika ÅšlÄ…ska) is a university located in Gliwice, Poland. ... The Polish United Workers Party (PUWP; in Polish, Polska Zjednoczona Partia Robotnicza, PZPR), was the governing political party in communist-ruled Poland from its creation (through a fusion of the communist Polish Workers Party and the left wing of the Polish Socialist Party) in December 1948 until the regimes... Socjaldemokracja Rzeczypospolitej Polskiej was a social-democratic (post-Commumist) political party in Poland created after the fall of Communism. ... Alliance of the Democratic Left ( Polish: Sojusz Lewicy Demokratycznej, SLD) is one of the main Polish social democratic political parties, established on April 15, 1999. ...

As a member of the PZPR, she was elected a Member of Sejm in 1989, and served for six consecutive terms until 2005 (having quit SLD in 2004, she served her last year as an independent Member). During that period, on October 26, 1993, she was appointed the Minister for Construction and Spatial Management in the Waldemar Pawlak cabinet, and served in that capacity in subsequent governments of Józef Oleksy and Włodzimierz Cimoszewicz until December 31, 1996, when the Ministry was replaced by the Central Office for Housing and Municipal Development, which Blida continued to be head of until the end of the term of Cimoszewicz's government on October 17, 1997. The Ministry was only restored as Ministry of Regional Development and Construction in 2000, with Jerzy Kropiwnicki assuming the office. Waldemar Pawlak (born 5 September 1959), twice served as Prime Minister of Poland (the first time in June 1992, he failed to form a cabinet). ... Józef Oleksy Józef Oleksy (born 22 June 1946 in Nowy SÄ…cz) is a Polish politician, chairman of Democratic Left Alliance (Sojusz Lewicy Demokratycznej). ... WÅ‚odzimierz Cimoszewicz (born September 13, 1950 in Warsaw, Poland) is a Polish politician, the Prime Minister of Poland from 1996 to autumn 1997, the Foreign Minister of Poland in the governments of Leszek Miller (2001-2004) and Marek Belka (2004-2005) , and speaker of the Sejm (lower chamber of... Jerzy Janusz Kropiwnicki (5. ...

After the end of her tenure as government minister, Blida continued to sit in the Sejm, but also ventured into business, becoming the president of J.W. Construction sp. z o.o., one of Poland's biggest real-estate developers in 2001. A real estate developer (American English) or property developer (British English) makes improvements of some kind to real property, thereby increasing its value. ...

Death

According to media accounts and later official reports, Blida was to be charged with corruption for accepting financial gains from Barbara Kmiecik, an arrested felon involved in a large-scale criminal scheme involving the state-controlled coal trade. Kmiecik allegedly named Blida as one of the officials she has corrupted. Coal Coal (IPA: ) is a fossil fuel formed in swamp ecosystems where plant remains were saved by water and mud from oxidization and biodegradation. ...

On the early morning of Wednesday, April 25, 2007, the Agencja Bezpieczeństwa Wewnętrznego (ABW - Agency of Internal Security) entered Blida's house in Siemianowice Śląskie with a prosecutor's warrant in order to arrest her and search the house for evidence. According to ABW reports, during the search, Blida asked for permission to use the bathroom, where she took out her Astra revolver and shot herself in the chest. Subsequent resuscitation efforts by ABW agents proved ineffective. April 25 is the 115th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar (116th in leap years). ... 2007 (MMVII) is the current year, a common year starting on Monday of the Gregorian calendar and the AD/CE era. ... rEVOLVEr (2004) is the fourth studio album release by Swedish thrash metal band The Haunted. ... For other meanings of CPR, see CPR (disambiguation). ...

Her death became the most important news item in the Polish media during that day, and sparked many comments and controversies, also voiced during a special Sejm session. ABW was accused of unprofessional handling of the matter, especially not making sure Blida handed over the gun, as it was publicly known she was granted a permission for and owned one after criminal assaults on her life in her last years. Some sources also purported that her death could not have been an effect of planned suicide, but rather of a scuffle with ABW agents, an accusation that was promptly dismissed by the officials. Opposition leaders called for the resignation of Secret Services Coordinator, Minister Zbigniew Wassermann after the incident, but during the hearing in the Sejm he announced he has no intentions to resign but rather asked Prime Minister Jarosław Kaczyński to suspend the chief of ABW. Zbigniew Wasserman (born 17 September 1949, Kraków) is a Polish politician, MP, representing Law and Justice (Prawo i Sprawiedliwość). He is a graduate in law from Jagiellonian University (Uniwersytet Jagielloński, Wydział Prawa) and member of Sejm, lower house of Polish parliament, elected in Krakow...   IPA: [] (born June 18, 1949) has been the Prime Minister of the Republic of Poland since July 14, 2006 and is the chairman of Law and Justice (Polish: ), a party which he co-founded in 2001. ...

References

• "Former Polish minister commits suicide", Seattle Post-Intelligencer
• Past member of Polish government kills self when police call, globeandmail.com
• This article incorporates text translated from the corresponding Polish Wikipedia article as of April 26, 2007.