The Prison Service reported that it had received several hundred threats and insults in connection with the alleged insults to the detained priest Michał O. – The Prison Service treats him with special protection, and as a result of your attacks, hysteria, people are threatening them – said Arkadiusz Myrcha (KO) in “Kropka nad i”, addressing Kazimierz Smoliński from PiS. He stated that in the letter regarding the alleged treatment of Michał O. by the services “there is information that there were very bad actions and there were good actions”.
Father Michał O., a representative of the Profeto Foundation, is one of ten suspects in the investigation of the National Prosecutor's Office, which concerns the spending of funds from the Justice Fund. He is currently in custody.
The weekly “Sieci” published a letter from the clergyman, in which he described the circumstances of his arrest. According to his account, he was humiliated, denied water and access to the toilet.
The guests of “Kropka nad i” commented on the matter: Deputy Minister of Justice Arkadiusz Myrcha (KO) and MP Kazimierz Smoliński (PiS).
Myrcha: that's some crazy story
As Myrcha said, “this is some kind of hysteria, some kind of crazy story that Law and Justice is currently unleashing.” – When he was arrested, no complaint was filed about the way the priest was arrested. Throughout the entire period of his detention, no complaint was filed from him – he added.
– Suddenly, a letter appears in a PiS-friendly medium that is not even his, which is a description of what he supposedly said, which is not confirmed by any circumstances of the case. No service confirms it. The police, the Internal Security Agency, the prosecutor's office, the Prison Service – he continued.
The KO politician and deputy minister of justice also cited today's announcement by the Central Board of the Prison Service, which states that “in connection with false information appearing in the media about the alleged use of torture against Michał O. by officers of the Prison Service and numerous comments by many journalists and politicians referring to this information, the Warsaw-Służewiec Detention Centre received approximately 110 e-mails and received several hundred phone calls with threats, insulting terms such as 'UBC' and 'SB' and vulgarities directed at officers of the Prison Service” Photographs of several of these messages were also published.
“The dissemination of false information exposes officers and employees of the Warsaw-Służewiec Detention Center to attacks, which affects both their safety and the functioning of the penitentiary,” we read in the appeal. It also assured that the Central Board of the Prison Service and Ministry of Justice take coordinated and comprehensive actions to ensure the safety of the facility.
“At the same time, we appeal to stop repeating false information and to be guided by the principles of honesty, truthfulness and responsibility for published words when conducting information activities,” we read.
– The Prison Service did nothing wrong. They treat him with special protection, and as a result of your attacks, your hysteria, people are threatening them – commented Myrcha, addressing the PiS politician.
Smoliński: I am waiting for the reaction of the Commissioner for Human Rights and the Helsinki Foundation for Human Rights
PiS MP Kazimierz Smoliński stated that in the letter concerning the alleged treatment of Michał O. by the services “there is information that there were very bad actions and there were good actions”. – In one place, Father Michał complains that he was treated scandalously, he was not given water for 60 hours, he had nothing to eat, after 30 hours he contacted a lawyer, he was woken up every hour at night – he added.
When asked why Father Michał's lawyer had not filed a complaint earlier, he replied that “that is a question for the lawyer.”
Referring to the announcement of the Prison Service, he stated that “when we asked you not to treat border guards or soldiers at the border like that, you ignored us, to put it colloquially.” He added that he was waiting to see what the government would do in this matter. Ombudsman and the Helsinki Foundation for Human Rights.
Michael O.
Father Michał O. is the president of the Profeto Foundation, which was a beneficiary of funds from the Justice Fund. At the end of March, he heard the charges, which – as the National Prosecutor's Office reported at the time – concerned the fact that suspicious persons (apart from the priest, these include officials from the Ministry of Justice, who were responsible for the fund) acting together and in agreement led to the granting of financial support to the foundation, despite the fact that the foundation did not meet the formal and substantive conditions for obtaining a subsidy.
“The suspects' actions included, among other things, certifying falsehoods in the documentation regarding the fulfilment of formal requirements, and also inflating the scores in terms of the fulfilment of substantive requirements and conditions,” the prosecutor's office said.
In early June, the prosecutor presented the priest with new charges concerning the crime of “money laundering”. According to the prosecutor's office, in 2020-2021, he carried out activities aimed at preventing the determination of the criminal origin of funds obtained under the contract concluded by the Profeto Foundation with the Justice Fund for the construction of the Archipelag center in Wilanów. The priest allegedly did this in agreement with Piotr W., president of TISO sp. z o. o., who was then the main contractor of this center.