A list of former communist collaborators in influential positions in Poland was leaked to the media. The people on the "list of 500" were members of the Democratic Left Alliance (SLD) - the party of former communists.

Just this past weekend, Janusz Kurtyka, the president of the National Institute of Remembrance (IPN) had said the names would be published only in academic literature. The IPN holds communist-era secret police files on Polish citizens who collaborated with the former regime.

The list has been dubbed "lista Kurtyki" in a suggestion that the IPN president leaked the names.

Meanwhile, the influential daily Rzeczpospolita printed that former President Aleksander Kwasniewski was on the list.

Other notable names appearing on the list include Jacek Piechota (former Minister of Economy), Zbigniew Siemiatkowski (the former intelligence chief), Roman Jagiellinski (former Minister of Agriculture) and Longin Pastusiak (former Sejm Speaker). Former Foreign Minister Dariusz Rosati and former Treasury Minister Wieslaw Kaczmarek are also reportedly listed as contacts.

Former President and Solidarity leader Lech Walesa called the list a witchhunt and added that "the only way out is early elections."

The Constitutional Tribunal, Poland's highest court, has ruled that publication of names would be unconstitutional. Tribunal Chief Justice Jerzy Stepien said the publication of the list would be an "infringement on the rule of law."

Prime Minister Jaroslaw Kaczynski, who has been at odds with the Tribunal said that Poles "have a right to know" who was a collaborator with the communist regime. He added that those who oppose full disclosure are favoring censorship and doing democracy a great disservice.