The pardoned PiS politicians Kaminski and Wasik tried to break into the Sejm. The dispute over politicians’ mandates has reached a new high point.
In Warsaw, the two PiS politicians Mariusz Kaminski and Maciej Wasik demanded access to the plenary hall of the Sejm, the more important of the two parliamentary chambers.
In front of the building, the two and other opposition politicians fought with the parliamentary guard, as the news channel TVN24 reported. They were therefore referred to the possibility of observing the meeting from the visitors’ gallery.
Ex-Interior Minister Kaminski and his former State Secretary Wasik were sentenced to two years in prison in December for abuse of office. President Andrzej Duda then pardoned her. Several independent legal experts have come to the conclusion that the politicians automatically lost their parliamentary mandate with the final verdict and that the president’s pardon does not change that. This view is also held by Parliament Speaker Szymon Holownia from the Polska 2050 party.
According to the Polish Constitution – Article 99, paragraph 3 – no one “who has been sentenced to imprisonment for a crime committed intentionally” may be elected to the Sejm or Senate. The PiS is nevertheless demanding back the parliamentary mandates for Kaminski and Wasik. The dispute over this has become a central point in the dispute between Prime Minister Donald Tusk’s center-left coalition and the PiS with its ally Duda in recent weeks.
Source: Stern
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