An employee of the Polish delegation to the Council of Europe, associated with the previous government, is said to have alerted Strasbourg to intervene in Warsaw in defense of MP Marcin Romanowski after the Sejm lifted his immunity. The official, Magdalena Marcinkowska, and the head of the Polish delegation are soon to end their mission.
Marcin Romanowski defends himself by attacking. The Law and Justice MP files a report to the prosecutor's office, wants to convene a parliamentary justice and human rights commission. He is echoed by other PiS politicians who want to punish the guilty.
– Poland is being compared with countries such as the Russian Federation and Belarus – says Jan Dziedziczak, a member of parliament from Law and Justice.
Such comparisons are a drastic abuse. In Russia or Belarus, oppositionists are imprisoned and murdered. In the case of Romanowski, we are talking about the detention of a politician who is accused by the prosecutor's office of giving away 112 million złoty in rigged, unfair competitions, where the money went to friendly institutions.
– What PiS has been doing in this term of parliament is establishing a criminal defense movement and they are doing it very consistently – says Marcin Kierwiński, MEP of the Civic Coalition.
A Warsaw court released Marcin Romanowski after a letter arrived from the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe office shortly after his arrest. It indicated that Romanowski could be covered by the immunity of that institution – parallel to the parliamentary immunity that was correctly lifted in Poland.
– I believe that someone misled the chairman of the assembly – comments Michał Szczerba, MEP of the Civic Coalition.
Marcin Romanowski remains a free man. The court did not agree to his temporary arrestJakub Sobieniowski/Fakty TVN
The figure of Magdalena Marcinkowska
“Gazeta Wyborcza” describes that the case was taken up by Magdalena Marcinkowska, who works at the Polish delegation to the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe. The letter of protection was prepared very quickly, and Marcinkowska is a close associate of Piotr Gliński from PiS – she previously worked at the Ministry of Culture and National Heritage.
– I have no knowledge about the functioning of the Polish representation – Marcin Romanowski replies. Did the official inform the chairman of the assembly that Marcin Romanowski has had his immunity lifted in Poland? – I have no such knowledge – emphasizes the former deputy minister of justice.
The official informed Warsaw when the letter was already being sent that the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe had prepared a letter in Romanowski's case – we hear from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. – The paragraph used and the interpretation that took place in this case are incorrect – believes Andrzej Halicki, MEP of the Civic Coalition.
“I will not tolerate people in diplomacy for whom the party is more important than the state,” writes Foreign Minister Radosław Sikorski on the Internet.
The official and the head of the Polish representation are soon to end their mission. – Mrs. Marcinkowska, together with the ambassador, will come to the country earlier – said Paweł Wroński, press spokesman for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
The prosecutor's office has the right to appeal the decision to release Romanowski. He himself maintains that he is innocent, but he will not voluntarily give up his immunity. If convicted, he faces up to 15 years in prison.
Main image source: PAP/Tomasz Gzell