Tomasz Szmydt, former head of the legal office of the National Council of the Judiciary during the rule of Law and Justice, has been hiding in Belarus for over half a year. Now Krzysztof Tołwiński, a former politician of the Polish People's Party, PiS, and even a deputy minister in Jarosław Kaczyński's government, appeared there. He argued on regime television that Putin would decide when the war in Ukraine would end and that the previous Polish government had a better policy for Belarus.
To get an invitation from Alexander Lukashenko's regime television and to be able to criticize Poland, the Polish government and Polish policy towards Ukraine, you have to earn unlimited trust. The former PSL politician and former member of the Law and Justice government clearly deserved it.
– I don't know if he's an agent or a useful idiot. It's hard to decide – Zbigniew Konwiński, MP from the Civic Coalition, comments on Krzysztof Tołwiński's words. – It's a matter of conviction, simply. This sympathy for the Kremlin resonated somewhere in Mr. Tołwiński – adds Barbara Oliwiecka, MP from Poland 2050-Third Way.
Krzysztof Tołwiński joined Law and Justice from the Polish People's Party – together with Zbigniew Kuźmiuk. He became deputy minister of treasury in the government of Jarosław Kaczyński.
– Various people were in Law and Justice. We are not responsible for their fate. These are their choices – comments Zbigniew Kuźmiuk, MP from Law and Justice.
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Tomasz Szmydt is an example of another person associated with PiS who ended up in Belarus. During the government of the United Right, Tomasz Szmydt was the head of the office in the politicized National Council of the Judiciary, and was also involved in a hate scandal at the Ministry of Justice. At the turn of April and May he escaped to Belarus. He asked Lukashenko for asylum and got it.
– It's obvious. This is betrayal – says Zbigniew Konwiński about the whole situation. – Judge Szmydt – and an investigative commission should be appointed – it was a carefully implemented operation of the Russian GRU. A let-in splint – comments Janusz Kowalski, MP from Law and Justice.
What connects Orban and Lukashenko
Szmydt, who could have collected secret and compromising materials, is today beyond the reach of the Polish justice system. He willingly appears in the regime media in Belarus and comments on Polish affairs even more willingly on the Internet.
– Without assessing Romanowski's guilt, he had no chance for a fair trial in Poland – says Tomasz Szmydt in one of the recordings. This is the narrative that PiS is spreading regarding the escape to Hungary of Marcin Romanowski, former deputy minister of justice in the PiS government.
– It is difficult to imagine that Minister Romanowski would submit to the lawlessness prevailing in Poland. He says that he is ready to return to Poland within six hours if the rule of law returns to Poland. – says Zbigniew Kuźmiuk, MP from Law and Justice.
According to the government, what Lukashenko and Orban have in common – apart from the fact that they shelter people associated with PiS – is Vladimir Putin.
– This is a knife in the back of the entire Polish policy, interestingly enough, also the policy towards Ukraine, which was represented by Law and Justice – says Jacek Karnowski, deputy minister of funds and regional policy, MP of the Civic Coalition, about the actions of the Hungarian government.
Law and Justice – as his former politician said on Belarusian regime television – pursued a much better policy towards Minsk than Donald Tusk's government. This was also noticed beyond our eastern border.
Main photo source: youtube.com/news.by_btrc