President Andrzej Duda of Poland announced on Thursday that he has initiated proceedings to pardon two former government ministers who were recently imprisoned for abuse of power, adding fuel to the ongoing standoff with the new administration.
The president, who is an ally of the previous government, made the announcement following the arrest of former Interior Minister Mariusz Kaminski and his deputy Maciej Wasik. The arrests, which took place in a high-profile raid on the presidential palace, have contributed to the political turmoil that has gripped the country since the new pro-European coalition assumed power after the October elections.
Prime Minister Donald Tusk’s efforts to reverse the policies of his nationalist Law and Justice (PiS) party predecessor and punish those accused of wrongdoing have led to public detentions and heightened tensions between the government and President Duda.
President Duda, expressing his outrage over the arrests, stated that he would not rest until Kaminski and Wasik were released. At a news conference on Thursday, he announced his decision to initiate pardon proceedings and apply to the prosecutor general to suspend the men’s sentences.
The announcement coincided with thousands of PiS supporters gathering in Warsaw to protest the detention of the former ministers and the state media reforms implemented by the new government.
The ongoing dispute between the president and the new head of government, along with the legal entanglements that have ensued, have highlighted what some lawyers describe as chaos in the judicial system.
This is the second time that President Duda has moved to pardon the pair over the same case. Kaminski and Wasik were first convicted of abuse of power in 2015 and were pardoned by President Duda, allowing them to resume their government positions. However, the Supreme Court ordered a reopening of the case, leading to their sentencing in December to two years in prison.
As a legal dispute played out over their immunity as members of parliament, Kaminski and Wasik were not immediately imprisoned. The former PiS government’s reforms during its eight years in power came under criticism for undermining the independence of the courts and causing disarray in the judicial system.
The new government led by Tusk is working to reverse these reforms in order to release the billions in funds that the European Union had frozen in reaction to the policies of the previous government.
(Reporting by Alan Charlish, Pawel Florkiewicz; Editing by Andrew Heavens)
