Polish police swooped on the nation’s presidential palace Tuesday to arrest two convicted members of the ousted national-conservative Law and Justice celebration (PiS).
The police in Warsaw introduced the arrests on X. According to the Polish media, the 2 had been arrested contained in the presidential palace in one other spectacular twist in an influence battle between the Polish proper and left.
Center-left Prime Minister Donald Tusk accused right-wing President Andrzej Duda of obstructing the imprisonment of former Interior Minister Mariusz Kaminski and his former state secretary Maciej Wasik.
“Mr. President, my heartfelt appeal for the good of the Polish state: you must put an end to this spectacle. It will lead us into a very dangerous situation,” Tusk mentioned in Warsaw. Poland is a member of each NATO and the European Union.
He warned that Duda, who’s from the PiS ranks, and PiS chief Jaroslaw Kaczynski could be held accountable for sabotaging the structure and breaking the regulation.
The political rivals have been at loggerheads for the reason that pro-European Tusk and his coalition toppled the long-time ruling celebration in elections.
The police in Warsaw confirmed {that a} courtroom order had been obtained to take each convicted politicians to jail.
Footage from broadcaster TVN24 confirmed cops looking in useless for the lads at their properties within the morning.
But Kaminski and Wasik had been then photographed posing aspect by aspect with the pinnacle of state at a reception within the palace, in accordance with photos printed by Duda’s regulation agency on X.
Kaminski mentioned: “We are not hiding. At the moment we are with Poland’s president until evil loses.”
They had been ultimately arrested within the night, with experiences saying Duda was now not within the palace.
Both had beforehand been sentenced within the first occasion to 3 years in jail for abuse of workplace.
The cause for the conviction was an affair uncovered in 2007, wherein the anti-corruption company, then headed by Kaminski, was mentioned to have intentionally orchestrated a corruption case with the intention to discredit the then Agriculture Minister Andrzej Lepper.
In 2015, instantly after the PiS got here to energy, Duda pardoned Kaminski and Wasik in a controversial determination.
Last June, Poland’s Supreme Court overturned their pardons.
Both needed to face trial once more. At the top of December, the Warsaw District Court sentenced them to 2 years in jail.
Duda emphasised once more on Monday that in his opinion, the pardon from 2015 was nonetheless legitimate.
A parliamentary session that was scheduled for Wednesday and Thursday was postponed till subsequent week in view of the tense state of affairs.
Source: www.dailysabah.com