Author Accused of Murder After Art Imitates Death

A Polish writer is on trial for murder after writing a crime novel in which he closely detailed the facts of a real-life killing.

Investigators claim Krystian Bala, 33, a travel writer, journalist and author, even sent them a copy of his popular novel Amok in which he gives a detailed account of a murder, in order to draw attention to it. But suspicious police thought his account too close to the murder of a man whose body was found near a weir on the river Oder in December 2000.

The fact that the dead man, Dariusz J, was a friend of the author's ex-wife, piqued police interest still further.

In Amok, Bala describes how the man was tied up in a similar fashion to Dariusz J, with his hands bound behind his back and round his wrists and neck. The murdered man, the owner of a small advertising agency, had also been tortured.

Bala has vigorously denied having inside knowledge of the killing. He says he was simply an avid reader of the press reports and that he has been framed to cover up for what he described as a "bungled" police investigation.

He told the local press before the trial: "Amok is a fictional work. Although the language and situations are strong it is an intellectual work."

According to critics the novel's plot centres on a group of bored intellectuals who seek solace in drugs, alcohol and sex. Its aggressive and strong language is interspersed with philosophical musings.

But police commissar Jaceck Wroblewski, who led the investigation, said he had read the novel several times. Comparing each line with Bala's own CV he said he found some striking comparisons.

He also accuses Bala of selling Dariusz J's mobile phone on the internet four days after his death, and of sending the television programme 997, the Polish equivalent of Crimewatch, emails from diving trips in South Korea and Indonesia in which he allegedly described the murder as "the perfect crime".

Speaking in court, his ex-wife described Bala as "controlling", which was the reason she had divorced him.

Bala's lawyer has said the evidence against him is thin, while prosecutors have demanded a 25-year sentence.

A verdict is expected in the next few days.