In 2018, the Independence March, organized annually by national groups, had an unusual character. In connection with the celebrations of the centenary of regaining independence, the state march “For You Poland” started first from Dmowski Roundabout, led by President Andrzej Duda, and about 1,000 meters behind it – the nationalists’ march. Even such solemn circumstances did not prevent the chanting of slogans that could be considered hate speech, and because of this, the then organizer of the march, Robert Bąkiewicz, has problems. On Wednesday, the police entered his home. They also searched the headquarters of the Independence March Association.
Criminal slogans at the Independence March?
Norbert Woliński, spokesman for the Warsaw-Praga District Prosecutor’s Office, confirms in an interview with “Rzeczpospolita” that the searches are related to the events of 2018. – As part of the proceedings, activities are being carried out related to establishing the identity of the perpetrator of the criminal threats, but the issue of slogans chanted by participants and displayed on banners is also being examined. The assessment of the materials indicates that out of several dozen slogans recorded during the march, three meet the characteristics of a crime under Articles 119 and 126a of the Penal Code – he enumerates. The aforementioned provisions concern the use of threats based on national, ethnic, racial, political and religious affiliation, as well as public incitement to crime.
Bąkiewicz’s house searched. Former organizer of the Independence March speaks of “political revenge”
Bąkiewicz was not a random person in the power structure that ended with the elections of October 15, 2023. Organizations associated with Bąkiewicz were generously subsidized by the Patriotic Fund, and he himself was on the PiS lists for the Sejm in 2023. He therefore called Wednesday’s search an “act of political revenge.” In an interview with Polsat News, he compared it to a situation in which a pickpocket would rob someone on a train, and six years later the police and prosecutor’s office would enter the home of the depot manager. In his opinion, the main goal of the services was to gain access to his “files, computer, phone.”
The problem is that – as it results from information from “Rzeczpospolita” – Bąkiewicz himself gave the prosecutor’s office a pretext for the search. The point is that during the investigation he testified that the slogans presented during the march were agreed with representatives of the authorities. The prosecutor’s office did not find any documents confirming this at the headquarters of state institutions, so they decided to look for them at Bąkiewicz’s.
