Do not insult the dog

WARSAW, Poland - A Warsaw court has ordered an opposition party to apologize publicly to the speaker of parliament for making what the court said were false claims about him and his dog in a campaign ad, a court spokesman said Thursday.
The Left and Democrats opposition party claimed in a radio ad ahead of Oct. 21 general elections that Parliamentary Speaker Ludwik Dorn's schnauzer Saba destroyed furniture in government offices he used in his previous post as interior minister, and that Dorn had refused to pay for the damage.
The party accused the ruling Law and Justice party, to which Dorn belongs, of misusing public money.
Wojciech Malek, a spokesman for Warsaw's district court, said that the court determined that the information was false and ordered the Left and Democrats — an alliance of ex-communists and center-right politicians — to apologize in radio broadcasts that must run three times over three days.
The court ordered the party to say in the ad that its electoral committee "apologizes for spreading untrue information alleging that his dog Saba destroyed furniture in the ministry, that is, that it chewed it and that Ludwik Dorn did not pay for the destroyed goods."