Adam Bodnar about judge Tomasz Szmydt, connected with the hater scandal. “How could he even come up with such an idea?”

Minister of Justice, Attorney General Adam Bodnar referred in “Fakty po Faktach” on TVN24 to the case of judge Tomasz Szmydt, who is one of the heroes of the hater scandal during the PiS government, which concerns the slander of judges opposed to the reforms of the United Right in the context of the judiciary.

Organized hate campaign against judges. See the tvn24.pl report >>>

Szmydt is in Belarus, where he said at a press conference that he had applied for asylum there. Later in a conversation with journalists he spoke about “resignation from the position of judge of the Republic of Poland with immediate effect“. – I will ask the Belarusian embassy to hand over this document to the Polish side – he said. In connection with this, it took action National Prosecutor's Office and ABW.

YOU CAN READ MORE ABOUT THE CASE HERE >>>

Bodnar said on TVN24 that the “most important” question for him in this matter is: “how is this even possible?”

– And how could the judge even come up with such an idea to go to a country whose relations, I would say are quite tense, when it comes to the Republic of Poland – he added. He pointed out that Szmydt had criticized Poland there, among other things, and noted that “everyone can criticize in different ways, but I think you have to choose where you criticize, and secondly, how you criticize and why you do it.”

Bodnar also said that the judge said “that Poland allegedly has a bad policy towards Belarus and the Russian Federation.” According to the Minister of Justice, these are “absolutely terrifying words.”

– We must remember one thing – the TVN24 guest continued and pointed out that Szmydt is not only one of the heroes of the hate scandal, but also a judge who ruled at the Provincial Administrative Court in Warsaw, in the Classified Information Department, and who resolved various cases. regarding the granting of safety certificates.

Read more: Matters related to the “secret” and “NATO SECRET” clauses. This was what Judge Szmydt was supposed to deal with

– I simply have in front of me a list of several hearings scheduled for June 4 – said Bodnar, adding that these are the cases that Judge Szmydt had on the docket of the Provincial Administrative Court. – All cases concern the refusal to issue a security clearance regarding access to classified information – he emphasized.

– So it was probably situations like this, I assume, that if we had an officer, let's say, of our army, who needed a certificate of access to the “NATO SECRET” clause, submitted an application, (…) the services for some reason refused to grant this person a certificate, then what can such a person do about it? He appeals to the court. And all this could end up in the hands of Judge Schmydt. So we don't know what information he had, Bodnar continued.

In his opinion, “it is good that the Internal Security Agency initiated proceedings in this regard.” – The National Prosecutor's Office also initiated proceedings regarding potential cooperation with the intelligence services of a foreign country. Because it seems to me that in this situation it is completely natural if a Polish citizen appears in Belarus from one day to the next, issues such a statement and we still have such circumstances in this case – he added.

Bodnar also recalled that Szmydt, “when he participated in the 'Caste' group, was also a judge delegated to the National Council of the Judiciary, where he headed the legal office.”

As the minister said, “one of the people who participated in this legal takeover” of the National Council of the Judiciary, after the changes introduced by PiS in its functioning. – Only later, when the hate scandal broke out, did he return to the Provincial Administrative Court in Warsaw – he added.