By pardoning Mariusz Kamiński and Maciej Wąsik, President Andrzej Duda claimed that it was an “embarrassment” to release Włodzimierz Karpiński, a KO politician who became an MEP, from custody. Karpiński responded with the open letter he writes about Onetaccusing Duda of wickedness and being guided by party interests.
Let us remind you that Włodzimierz Karpiński is the former secretary of the capital city of Warsaw. Warsaw, who was arrested on charges of corruption, and after nine months in November 2023, he was released from custody in connection with taking up the mandate of an MEP and obtaining immunity.
“I spent 9 months in detention. The prosecutor questioned me three times during this period, for a total of about 10 hours. The first two times, right after my arrest and before the request for arrest was submitted. After my arrest, during the next 9 months of imprisonment, there was only one interrogation by the prosecutor – at the request of my defense lawyers,” writes Włodzimierz Karpiński.
See also: Włodzimierz Karpiński: I was followed and eavesdropped
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He adds that his wife was given permission to contact him after a month and a half of his pre-trial detention and she could see him for one hour a month.
“As a family, we had to experience this unfair and difficult situation separately, in silence, with no possibility of outside help. The prosecutor’s office repeatedly made public statements about me, prejudging my guilt and presenting only their interpretations as facts. Similarly, In your public statements, you equate me with two PiS politicians who were legally convicted by an independent Polish court and who, for this reason, lost their parliamentary seats irretrievably.” – says the MEP in a letter to the president.
“This is a wicked act. You are clearly violating the basic principles of the Constitutionwhich you publicly committed to guard as the President of the Republic of Poland,” we read.
He emphasizes that the constitution guarantees people’s equality before the law. Meanwhile, the situation of the convicted Mariusz Kamiński and Maciej Wąsik and Włodzimierz Karpiński – a person with no criminal record – is different. There was not even an indictment filed against the MEP.
See also: An open letter from the sons of Włodzimierz Karpiński. “254 days of detention, three interrogations”
“You are making statements towards me only to achieve short-term political goals. (…) You are disregarding the repeated long-term detention of many Polish citizens in detention. In 2015, the Sejm of the Republic of Poland, including me, passed regulations that were consistent with European law and they actually guaranteed the presumption of innocence. After PiS came to power, they were immediately changed, also with your participation. Since then, in Poland, an accusation of committing a serious crime by the prosecutor’s office is sufficient for arrest,” he writes in the letter.
