The European Parliament has stripped the immunity of Michał Kamiński and Maciej Wąsik, two Polish MEPs, over allegations they broke a five-year ban on holding public office.
Kamiński, interior minister in the previous Law and Justice (PiS)-led government, and his former deputy, Wąsik, were convicted in 2023 for their part in a sting operation when they headed the Central Anti-Corruption Bureau.
They were sentenced to two years in prison and given a five-year ban on holding public office but were subsequently pardoned by the president. They later won seats in the European Parliament in elections in June 2024.
Poland’s prosecution service is pursuing the two men for allegedly participating in a parliamentary vote the day after their convictions, despite the house speaker’s ruling that their mandates were null and void. Consequently, a motion has been filed with the European Parliament to lift their immunity.
“Despite a ban, Mariusz Kaminski and Maciej Wąsik exercised their MP mandates as they took part in a Sejm (lower house of parliament) sitting on December 21, 2023, and in some votes, as well as in a meeting of the Sejm Administration and Internal Affairs Committee on December 28, 2023,” a statement on the National Prosecutor’s Office website said.
After a January hearing before the European Parliament’s legal committee, Mariusz Kamiński told reporters that the prosecution’s request to strip him of immunity was aimed solely at “repressing him as a figure tied to Poland’s democratic opposition.”
Maciej Wąsik shared a similar view after his own hearing before the legal committee in February. “We were fulfilling our mandate, and charging MPs for voting and participating in parliamentary work is simply political maneuvering,” he told journalists in Brussels.
They were sentenced to two years in prison and given a five-year ban on holding public office but were subsequently pardoned by the president. They later won seats in the European Parliament in elections in June 2024.
Poland’s prosecution service is pursuing the two men for allegedly participating in a parliamentary vote the day after their convictions, despite the house speaker’s ruling that their mandates were null and void. Consequently, a motion has been filed with the European Parliament to lift their immunity.
“Despite a ban, Mariusz Kaminski and Maciej Wąsik exercised their MP mandates as they took part in a Sejm (lower house of parliament) sitting on December 21, 2023, and in some votes, as well as in a meeting of the Sejm Administration and Internal Affairs Committee on December 28, 2023,” a statement on the National Prosecutor’s Office website said.
After a January hearing before the European Parliament’s legal committee, Mariusz Kamiński told reporters that the prosecution’s request to strip him of immunity was aimed solely at “repressing him as a figure tied to Poland’s democratic opposition.”
Maciej Wąsik shared a similar view after his own hearing before the legal committee in February. “We were fulfilling our mandate, and charging MPs for voting and participating in parliamentary work is simply political maneuvering,” he told journalists in Brussels.
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