The decision clears the way for Polish prosecutors and courts to pursue legal proceedings against the lawmakers, as parliamentary immunity no longer shields them from investigation or prosecution. The MEPs are Patryk Jaki and Daniel Obajtek from the opposition Law and Justice (PiS) party, as well as Grzegorz Braun and Tomasz Buczek, both from far-right groupings, each facing separate allegations ranging from defamation to obstruction and assault. Jaki’s case stems from a private defamation complaint filed by Polish judge Igor Tuleya over remarks made during the 2024 European election campaign, in which he allegedly accused the judge of knowingly authorizing surveillance using Israeli Pegasus spyware. After Tuleya rejected the claim as false, Jaki was said to have suggested the judge lacked awareness of documents he had signed. Obajtek, the former head of state-controlled oil group Orlen, faces allegations of giving false testimony in court and of restricting the distribution of the satirical weekly “NIE” at company petrol stations over a cover featuring Pope John Paul II. Far-right lawmaker Braun, who represents the Confederation of the Polish Crown party, is accused of blocking a road in the town of Jedwabne on July 10, 2025, during ceremonies marking the 84th anniversary of the massacre of its Jewish population. It is the fourth time his parliamentary immunity has been lifted. Buczek, an MEP from the far-right Confederation alliance, is alleged to have violated the physical integrity of a participant during a 2024 election event, including forcibly taking a megaphone from a woman who was criticizing him, in an incident reportedly initiated by a private complaint. The move follows a recommendation by the European Parliament’s legal affairs committee, which said the cases were criminal in nature and not politically motivated. Parliamentary immunity protects lawmakers from legal action but can be waived by a vote of the chamber, allowing national authorities to proceed with investigations. MEPs respond Two MEPs from PiS reacted quickly to the European Parliament’s decision, commenting on social media. In a post on X, Daniel Obajtek wrote that the EP decision was a form of “repression of political opponents.” He added: “My immunity was revoked because I dared to defend religious sentiments and Saint John Paul II, and I decided to withdraw one issue of the weekly magazine ‘Nie’ while I was the CEO of Orlen. “I would make that decision again, and I’m proud of it.” Patryk Jaki also said that stripping him of his immunity was “yet another instance of targeting political rivals.” “I stated that Judge Igor Tuleya had agreed to the use of the Pegasus system. He himself admits that he agreed, but did not know that it was specifically this system,” Jaki wrote on X. He also added that he had been stripped of his immunity during his previous term as an MEP for “liking a video showing real scenes of violence against migrants” and now faces three years in prison. Three days before Parliament stripped the MEPs of their immunity, Buczek told a local news website that he would gladly waive his immunity, but “I found out that there is no such procedure in the European Parliament.” “I really won't be crying over this immunity. I wanted to revoke it myself,” he added. Grzegorz Braun has yet to respond.
