In Poland, the dispute between the president and the newly elected government is likely to intensify further: Head of State Duda pardoned members of the voted-out PiS party for the second time, to which he himself is close.
After the release of two former members of the recently replaced government from prison, the signs in Poland continue to point to strife. Former Interior Minister Mariusz Kaminski and his former State Secretary Maciej Wasik from the national conservative ruling party PiS, which was voted out in October, left their prisons on Tuesday evening, the PAP news agency reported.
A few hours earlier, President Andrzej Duda, who comes from the ranks of the PiS, announced that he had pardoned the two politicians convicted of abuse of office for a second time.
“See you soon”
According to a ruling, both PiS politicians will not be allowed to hold public office for five years and will lose their parliamentary mandate. However, the PiS does not recognize the court-ordered loss of parliamentary mandates.
However, Parliament Speaker Szymon Holownia, whose Third Way party is a coalition partner in Prime Minister Donald Tusk’s center-left government, has already expelled both MPs. “Mr. Tusk, Mr. Holownia, we’ll see each other again soon,” said Wasik after his release.
Protest against imprisonment
The dispute over the fate of Kaminski and Wasik had already become a central point in the dispute between Tusk’s government and the PiS with its ally Duda in recent weeks. The PiS MPs were arrested and taken to prison on January 9th after seeking protection in the presidential palace.
The PiS has since described the two as “political prisoners”. Kaminski went on hunger strike right at the start of his detention. Tens of thousands of PiS supporters protested against the imprisonment of the two politicians.
Former Polish Interior Minister Mariusz Kaminski after his release from prison.
PiS politician pardoned in 2015
The case of the two PiS politicians has a long history. In 2015, immediately after PiS came to power, Duda pardoned both Kaminski and Wasik in a controversial decision. Both had previously been sentenced in the first instance to three years in prison for abuse of office.
The reason for the conviction was an affair uncovered in 2007, in which the anti-corruption agency, then headed by Kaminski, was said to have deliberately orchestrated a corruption case in order to discredit the then Agriculture Minister Andrzej Lepper. Kaminski and Wasik appealed the verdict.
In June, the Supreme Court overturned the presidential pardon of Kaminski and Wasik. According to the verdict, only those who have been legally convicted can be pardoned. Both had to face the trial again. At the end of December, the Warsaw District Court sentenced her to two years in prison. The court also ordered the ban on holding office and the loss of his mandate.