“The case of Messrs. Kaminski and Wasik is not over, it has just begun,” announced Polish Prime Minister Tusk after the release of two politicians – while the President warmly welcomed both.
One day after their release from prison, Poland’s President Andrzej Duda received two former members of the national-conservative PiS government who he had pardoned. The head of state welcomed ex-Interior Minister Mariusz Kaminski and his former State Secretary Maciej Wasik to the presidential palace with a warm hug, as a video published by the presidential administration on the X platform (formerly Twitter) showed on Wednesday.
Xpost
Meanwhile, Prime Minister Donald Tusk announced further prosecution of politicians convicted of abuse of office. “The case of Messrs. Kaminski and Wasik is not over, it has just begun.” What the two have done over the past eight years also still needs to be thoroughly investigated by the law enforcement authorities.
The dispute over the PiS MPs has become a central point in the dispute between the center-left government of Donald Tusk and the PiS with its ally Duda in recent weeks. The two politicians were arrested on January 9th and taken to prison after initially seeking protection in the presidential palace.
Kaminski and Wasik were sentenced to two years in prison in an appeal by a Warsaw district court in December for abuse of office in a previous position. Duda pardoned the two after an initial trial in 2015. However, the Supreme Court declared this pardon to be unlawful because the appeal process was still ongoing at the time. Duda emphasized again on Tuesday that, in his view, the pardon from 2015 was still valid. Nevertheless, he pardoned her a second time.
The conflict over Kaminski and Wasik could escalate again at the parliamentary session planned for Thursday. According to the court ruling, both are not allowed to hold public office for five years and have therefore lost their parliamentary mandates. However, you do not acknowledge this and want to appear at the meeting.
Source: Stern
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