– After I was touring across the Democratic Republic of the Congo in a automobile with a employed driver, we have been stopped by the presidential guard (…). After my passport was checked and it turned out that I used to be Polish, I used to be arrested – mentioned traveler Mariusz Majewski, who spent three months in tough circumstances in a Congolese jail, in “Dzień Dobry TVN”. He was despatched there for alleged espionage and acquired a life sentence and a ten million greenback advantageous. – I spent the primary 5 weeks in Congo in isolation, with no contact with the surface world – he mentioned.
Years in the past, Mariusz Majewski turned the primary Pole to set foot on the territory of all 193 UN member nations (and the Vatican) earlier than the age of 40. In 2017, he additionally skilled the longest day lasting 49 hours, which was acknowledged as an official Guinness document.
In 2024, he spent three months in tough circumstances in a jail within the Democratic Republic of the Congo. He was despatched there for alleged espionage and acquired a life sentence and a ten million greenback advantageous. Within the “Dzień Dobry TVN” studio, in a dialog with Ewa Drzyzga and Krzysztof Skórzyński, he talked about what occurred to him.
See additionally: The drama of a Pole within the Congo. He was wrongly sentenced to life imprisonment
“I spent the primary 5 weeks in isolation, with no contact with the surface world.”
– After I was touring across the Democratic Republic of the Congo in a automobile with a employed driver, we have been stopped by the presidential guard, a particular navy pressure. After my passport was checked and it turned out that I used to be Polish, I used to be arrested. I assumed it was about the truth that I did not provide any bribe, and extorting cash on the roads in Africa is sort of a standard observe, however then, when issues began to take such an sudden flip for me, I noticed that it was severe – he mentioned.
>> He was to spend the remainder of his life in a Congolese jail. Pole “is now secure in Europe”
– After I was thrown into jail and requested to contact a lawyer or my household, I used to be informed that I had completely no rights. And so I spent the primary 5 weeks in Congo in isolation, with no contact with the surface world. We could not even have pens, he added.
As he identified, “the court docket was the celebration that offered the interpreter.” – They solely had one who, sadly, knew little or no English and there was no different possibility. Nonetheless, the lawyer who was employed by my household was at risk as a result of he acquired loss of life threats as a result of he was dealing with my case, he mentioned.
“They needed the loss of life penalty for me”
Majewski mentioned that “from the start the case itself was a little bit of a farce.” – It was a present, broadcast on tv. And the general public’s expectation was that they needed the loss of life penalty for me due to the anti-Western and particularly anti-Polish sentiments within the Congo. Since March, the loss of life penalty has been reintroduced on this nation and society anticipated that it might be executed in opposition to me, he mentioned.
He identified that to date there was no official judgment with justification. – It’s a life sentence that was modified from the loss of life penalty on the final minute. And the data I’ve for the time being is that I acquired a life sentence, which remains to be legitimate – he mentioned.
Kinshasa, capital of the Democratic Republic of the CongoShutterstock
– I misplaced contact with my household and I assumed that I would not final lengthy, that I might have the ability to survive there for a while, however the environment within the jail the place I used to be transferred and the very feeling that I used to be harmless and that I acquired such a sentence precipitated that my morale was dropping very a lot from each day – continued the traveler.
– Immediately I used to be taken out of this jail I used to be in and I assumed they have been transferring me to a different one as a result of I used to be used to it. Even when driving, I requested the place we have been going. These providers informed me they did not know. Even the motive force did not know the place he was going. Even after I arrived on the airport and suspected that it could be factor, it was solely after I was the final one to be placed on the aircraft to Brussels that they handed me my passport simply earlier than the door closed, he mentioned.
– I used to be beneath their management on a regular basis, I used to be being filmed, and solely after they handed me the passport did I believe that I might most likely be free. I felt peace solely after we left this nation. I wish to be acquitted, he added.
Polish traveler sentenced within the Republic of the Congo
On Could 23, Mariusz Majewski was sentenced to life imprisonment within the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Three months earlier, he appeared earlier than a navy tribunal there. The Polish traveler was then charged with sabotage and destroying installations of the Congolese Armed Forces.
Majewski – in keeping with Congolese investigators – was to “strategy the entrance line with Mobondo militiamen; transfer alongside the entrance line with out authorization from the competent authorities and with out the corporate of certified brokers; take photographs of delicate and strategic locations; secretly observe navy actions.”
On the finish of Could, he was launched and the traveler was despatched to the Polish consulate in Brussels. Deputy Minister of International Affairs Andrzej Szejna then introduced that the motion to launch the Polish citizen was carried out in cooperation with the ministry and President Andrzej Duda.
photo-source">Supply of the principle picture: Dzień Dobry TVN
