Polish president pardons jailed politicians

Polish President Andrzej Duda on Tuesday pardoned two former ministers who were serving prison sentences for abuse of power for the second time. International media report this. This concerns former minister Mariusz Kaminski and former state secretary Maciej Wasik. Duda demands “immediate” release from prison of the two politicians, he writes a message on X.

The two former ministers were arrested in January in the presidential palace in the Polish capital Warsaw, where they were hiding. The two men were arrested by the national anti-corruption service, a month after the new Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk took office.

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<strong>Members of Parliament from the PiS party</strong> in the plenary hall in Warsaw with protest signs ‘in solidarity with Kaminski and Wasik’.” class=”dmt-article-suggestion__image” src=”https://images.nrc.nl/0Ig6WrCZ3vYRXPvbKBDOao1mfqk=/160×96/smart/filters:no_upscale()/s3/static.nrc.nl/images/gn4/stripped/data110427842-866a31.jpg”/></p><p>Marius and Kaminski were previously convicted in 2015 for, among other things, eavesdropping on a political opponent, but were also pardoned by President Duda.  That was when the national-conservative PiS government was in power.  Last year this party was voted out, since then it has been in conflict with the new pro-European government of Tusk.  The pardon was labeled as illegitimate by Tusk after he took office, after which the two were arrested again earlier this month.</p><p>While in captivity, both men went on hunger strike, claiming to be “political prisoners.”  Their detention sparked major protests from tens of thousands of PiS supporters.</p><p><dmt-util-bar article=




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