The leader of Poland’s right-wing opposition Law and Justice (PiS) party was on Thursday stripped of the immunity from prosecution that lawmakers enjoy, as was a former defense minister.
Parliament voted to waive the immunity of PiS chief Jarosław Kaczyński over a slander case brought by Krzysztof Brejza, a European parliamentarian of the Civic Platform party that forms the backbone of Poland’s current coalition government.
Brejza accuses Kaczyński of defamation over comments the PiS leader made during a parliamentary probe into alleged misuse of surveillance technology by the previous Law and Justice government.
PiS, which was ousted in late 2023 after eight years in power, stands accused of using the Israeli-made Pegasus spyware against its political opponents, including Brejza.
At a hearing of a parliamentary committee into the Pegasus affair, Kaczyński described Brejza as “a significant opposition politician... who commits very serious and abhorrent crimes.”
Brejza’s wife and legal counsel, Dorota Brejza, said last month that her husband had never committed any crimes or faced any charges.
She added that the crimes Kaczyński claimed had been committed were used as supposed reason for putting her husband under covert surveillance in a fraud case.
Dorota Brejza added that use of the spy software against her husband had “in no way contributed to clarifying that fraud case.”
Opponents of PiS say the party spied on its opponents to gain political advantage.
Krzysztof Brejza posted on the X platform on Thursday that Kaczyński, once the most powerful man in Poland, would finally answer for slandering him.
“A man who thought he would always be unpunished learns what equality before the law is,” Brejza wrote.
In a second vote on Thursday, parliament removed the immunity of Mariusz Błaszczak, the defense minister in the previous PiS government.
Błaszczak, who was also a deputy prime minister, is accused of illegally disclosing classified defense information for political gain.
Prosecutors want to charge him over declassifying in July 2023 and subsequently revealing details of national defense plans.
The strategy, from 2011, outlined actions to be taken in the event of a Russian attack, which Błaszczak said at the time involved “giving half the country away to the invaders.”
Brejza accuses Kaczyński of defamation over comments the PiS leader made during a parliamentary probe into alleged misuse of surveillance technology by the previous Law and Justice government.
PiS, which was ousted in late 2023 after eight years in power, stands accused of using the Israeli-made Pegasus spyware against its political opponents, including Brejza.
At a hearing of a parliamentary committee into the Pegasus affair, Kaczyński described Brejza as “a significant opposition politician... who commits very serious and abhorrent crimes.”
Brejza’s wife and legal counsel, Dorota Brejza, said last month that her husband had never committed any crimes or faced any charges.
She added that the crimes Kaczyński claimed had been committed were used as supposed reason for putting her husband under covert surveillance in a fraud case.
Dorota Brejza added that use of the spy software against her husband had “in no way contributed to clarifying that fraud case.”
Opponents of PiS say the party spied on its opponents to gain political advantage.
Krzysztof Brejza posted on the X platform on Thursday that Kaczyński, once the most powerful man in Poland, would finally answer for slandering him.
“A man who thought he would always be unpunished learns what equality before the law is,” Brejza wrote.
In a second vote on Thursday, parliament removed the immunity of Mariusz Błaszczak, the defense minister in the previous PiS government.
Błaszczak, who was also a deputy prime minister, is accused of illegally disclosing classified defense information for political gain.
Prosecutors want to charge him over declassifying in July 2023 and subsequently revealing details of national defense plans.
The strategy, from 2011, outlined actions to be taken in the event of a Russian attack, which Błaszczak said at the time involved “giving half the country away to the invaders.”
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