Convicted MPs flee to the presidential palace – Poland is threatened with a state crisis in 2023 and just reaches the 1.5 degree threshold

In fact, former Polish Minister of the Interior Mariusz Kaminski and his former State Secretary Maciej Wasik should have started their two-year prison sentences on Tuesday. But when police officers searched their apartments, they were empty: the two MPs from the replaced ruling party PiS, who had been legally convicted of abuse of office, had flown away. A little later, the surprised Poles heard through a post from the presidential government on Platform X where the wanted people were: at a reception given by Head of State Andrzej Duda in the presidential palace.

What seems like a farce is in reality the escalation of a conflict between the new and old government camps in Poland, which could lead the EU and NATO country into a state crisis. The power struggle between the center-left government of Donald Tusk, which has been in power since December 15, and the outvoted national-conservative PiS, from whose camp President Duda also comes, has escalated.

A parliamentary session originally scheduled for Wednesday was postponed until next week due to the chaotic situation. Tusk threatened Duda and PiS leader Kaczynski that they would be held responsible for “sabotage of the constitution”.

The two PiS MPs wanted on an arrest warrant have apparently found shelter in the presidential palace. In the afternoon, Kaminski and Wasik talked in the courtyard. ‘We don’t hide. At this moment we support the Polish president until evil loses,” Kaminski said. He did not say how long they wanted to stay there. Wasik called on PiS supporters to come to Warsaw for a demonstration against Tusk’s government, scheduled for Thursday.

Duda pardoned the convicts several years ago

The case of the two PiS politicians has a long history. In 2015, immediately after the PiS came to power, Duda pardoned Kaminski and Wasik in a controversial decision. Both had previously been sentenced at first instance to three years in prison for abuse of office. The reason for the conviction was an affair that came to light in 2007, in which the anti-corruption agency, then led by Kaminski, allegedly deliberately orchestrated a corruption case to discredit then-Agriculture Minister Andrzej Lepper. Kaminski and Wasik appealed the verdict.

Last June, the Supreme Court overturned the presidential pardon of Kaminski and Wasik. According to the reasons for the verdict, only those legally convicted can be pardoned. Both had to appear in court again. At the end of December, the Warsaw District Court sentenced her to two years in prison. The court also ordered that both PiS politicians be banned from holding public office for five years and lose their parliamentary mandates.

Duda has emphasized several times in recent days that in his opinion the pardon remains applicable – Poland’s leading constitutional lawyers see it differently. Both politicians had announced their intention to continue to fulfill their mandate as representatives and to appear at parliamentary sessions.

Tusk’s profession

In the afternoon, a visibly upset Prime Minister Tusk sent clear words to Duda: “Mr President, my fervent appeal for the well-being of the Polish state: you must put an end to this spectacle. It will put us in a very dangerous situation.” The actions targeted the foundations of the state.

Regarding the president’s behavior, Tusk also quoted from the Polish Criminal Code: “Anyone who obstructs or frustrates criminal proceedings by helping a criminal to avoid criminal responsibility (…) will be punished with a prison sentence of three months to a maximum of five punished for years.” And he warned: Duda and PiS leader Jaroslaw Kaczynski would be held responsible for their actions. However, Tusk clearly ruled out a violent arrest of Kaminski and Wasik in the presidential palace. (deppen/sda/dpa)