The speaker of the Sejm, the lower house of the Polish parliament, canceled the next scheduled meeting and moved it to next week. Szymon Holownia explained that the peaceful parliamentary process cannot be guaranteed during the current constitutional crisis, Polish news agency PAP reported, BTA reported.
The break comes at a time of high political tension in Poland over legal battles surrounding the cases of Mariusz Kaminski, a former interior minister, and his deputy Maciej Wonszyk, who were each sentenced to two years in prison in December last year for abuse of power during their mandates. However, they contested their sentence, claiming that their accusation was political.
The two Polish MPs, who had been issued a court order to be jailed, have been detained, police said, as quoted by Reuters. “We would like to inform you that in accordance with the court order, the persons affected by the order have been detained,” the Polish police said in a post in Ex.
Earlier yesterday, the President of Poland, Andrzej Duda, appeared together with the two MPs.
In 2015, weeks after the nationalist Law and Justice party came to power, its ally Duda pardoned Mariusz Kaminski and allowed him to become interior minister. Lawyers have questioned whether Duda has the power to pardon his violations before the court makes a final ruling.
The Supreme Court said last year that the case would be reopened.
Holovnia described the ongoing political dispute over Kaminski and Vonsik as a “deep constitutional crisis”.
Duda and the former ruling Law and Justice party, to which the two lawmakers belong, argue that the presidential pardon is still valid and that their convictions are invalid. Holovnia stated that the current legal status of Kaminski and Wonsik is clear and beyond doubt.
Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk supported Holownia’s decision. He stated that the reasons and motives why the speaker of the Seimas “wants to avoid an escalation of tension and a probable, unnecessary quarrel at a time when we have a serious discussion and vote on the state budget” are absolutely understandable and logical.
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2024-01-10 04:41:00
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