Polish police have arrested two politicians convicted of abuse of power who took refuge in President Andrzej Duda’s palace for several hours.
WARSAW, Poland — Polish police on Tuesday took refuge in President Andrzej Duda’s palace for several hours as the conflict between the new and previous governments escalated dramatically. Two people at home were arrested.
Duda welcomed them to the presidential palace as police raided their homes to arrest former ruling party members. Polish media reported that the men were arrested inside the palace. Warsaw police did not provide further details, saying only that the arrests were made “in accordance with a court order.”
The incident intensified the conflict between Prime Minister Donald Tusk’s new government and the conservative Law and Justice Party, which had ruled Poland for eight years until last month after losing a general election in October.
Mr Duda is closely aligned with Law and Justice and has made clear his opposition to Mr Tusk’s policies. Duda’s second and final term will run until mid-2025.
Mr Tusk, who has promised to restore democratic norms in Poland, accused the president of aligning himself with law and justice actions that would create chaos and instability after his election defeat, and Mr Duda said: “This will lead to a very dangerous situation.” This spectacle must stop.” situation. “
The prime minister claimed that the president was obstructing justice by giving refuge to wanted people. At a press conference, he read out the section of the criminal law that Duda claims he violated, which provides for sentences ranging from three months to five years in prison.
“I just want the president to know what his political friends have deceived him into,” Tusk said.
The controversy centers on two law and justice officials, former interior minister Mariusz Kaminski and his former deputy Maciej Wasik, who briefly left the palace to speak to reporters hours before their arrest. It’s here.
“We’re not hiding,” Kaminsky said. “We are now with the President of the Republic of Poland until evil defeats.”
Mr. Kaminski and Mr. Wasik were convicted of abuse of power for their actions in 2007 while working for the nascent Law and Justice-led government. Duda pardoned them in 2015, but legal experts argued that such pardons would be limited to cases that have passed all appeals.
In June, Poland’s Supreme Court revoked the pardon and ordered a retrial. Kaminsky and Wasik were sentenced to two years in prison in December. The court on Monday ordered police to arrest them and hand them over to jail. They maintain their innocence, and Duda insists the pardon remains in effect.
On Tuesday, Mr. Duda invited Mr. Kaminski and Mr. Wasik to the palace for a ceremony in which he appointed two officials who had worked for them as new advisers. His office posted a photo of all four posing together.
Earlier in the day, Parliament Speaker Shimon Horounia postponed the session of the Sejm Sejm, which was scheduled to begin on Wednesday, until next week.
Mr. Kaminski and Mr. Wasik, who were re-elected as MPs in October, have said they want to serve in Congress, despite claims by Mr. Holounia and others that a conviction would preclude them from serving in Congress under the law. was.
Holounia said the situation “raises a serious constitutional crisis…There is no guarantee that this week’s Sejm deliberations will be held peacefully.”
Kaminsky, a former head of the Central Anti-Corruption Bureau, was found guilty along with Wasik and two others of abuse of power for provocative acts during a sting operation designed to ensnare their targets. The scandal contributed to the collapse of the First Law and Justice government in 2007.
Mr Tusk’s allies welcomed the arrest and said it would hold government officials accountable again. “Let this be a warning to the next generation of politicians,” Foreign Minister Radek Sikorski posted on social media.
Former Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki was among legal and judicial officials to express outrage, calling the arrested men “political prisoners.”