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WARSAW, May 12, 2014 (LifeSiteNews.com) – Polish pro-life activists staged a demonstration in front of the Canadian embassy in Warsaw Monday in solidarity with Canadian pro-life prisoner of conscience Mary Wagner as her trial continues Tuesday and Wednesday.

The demonstrators delivered a petition addressed to Prime Minister Stephen Harper, which has been signed by more than 15,000 Polish citizens, to the Canadian Ambassador to Poland Mrs. Alexandra Bugailiskis.

“Many people in Poland are deeply affected by the fate of Mary Wagner, prisoner of conscience, detained for the belief that the unborn child has the right to be born and live,” reads the petition. “Her only fault is a conversation and prayer for this intention. For this reason she has spent years in a prison for women in Milton. May 13 and 14 will be her next hearing in the Ontario Court of Justice.”

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“While imprisoning a person because of personal convictions violates Art. 19 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, imprisonment for defending human rights violates the very essence of justice,” it continued. “I appeal to you, Mr. Prime Minister, to take all possible action to restore freedom to Mary Wagner, to compensate her for the harm that she has experienced, and prevent anyone in the future from suffering similar persecution.”

Signatory of the petition Marek Jurek, a Polish politician who helped organize the demonstration, said in a statement sent to LifeSiteNews: “Legalization of abortion has many dark side effects. In Mary Wagner's case we see them clearly. When killing a baby (abortion) becomes a law, defending a child becomes a crime. We must oppose unjust laws. Mary Wagner is a prisoner of conscience, her persecutors have trampled on her human rights. We all have to support Mary Wagner.” 

Signatory Michał Baran of the Polish branch of the EU's One of Us Foundation said: “Thousands of Polish people and organizations who have signed in the last days the open letter regarding Mary Wagner show how important her testimony is. She proves the accuracy of Saint John Paul II's words, that democracy without values changes into obvious or camouflaged totalitarianism.”

Another signatory, Magdlena Korzekwa of CitizenGo Poland, added, “It is absurd that a modern country persecutes a person because she wanted just to save innocent children and their mothers! To be against life means to be against love and joy and owing to this fact we are obliged to do this for Mary's freedom.”

Ewa Wiśniewska, a student at the demonstration, said, “It is amazing that she fights with such tenacity. We are proud of her and we would like to help as much as we can.”

Demonstration organizer Karol Wyszyński told LifeSiteNews that Poles invite pro-life activists from all over the world to join another action in support of Mary Wagner.

“To show our support for Mary, all Facebook users can take and post a selfie, but in your hands have a piece of paper with the words “Release Mary Wagner!” clearly showing in the picture. To make them easier to find, we ask you to mark them #selfie4mary,” Wyszyński said.

Further information on initiatives in Poland in support of Mary Wagner are available from Karol Wyszyński at +48 692 121 570, or by email at [email protected].