Mariusz Kamiński and Maciej Wąsik, both sentenced for abuse of power and pardoned by incumbent President Andrzej Duda, would run in European elections, the Law and Justice (PiS) party announced on Thursday.
Both former MPs were sentenced by the court at the end of 2023 and stripped of their parliamentary mandates for abusing their powers in positions they held before being nominated for ministerial posts.
The PiS, to which both MPs belonged and which lost power in Poland after the October elections, stood up in defence of both former MPs and denied their guilt. Moreover, the party accused the new government of Prime Minister Donald Tusk of violating the rule of law.
After the arrest, PiS members declared that Kamiński and Wąsik were political prisoners and demanded their immediate release. In January, a protest was held in Warsaw in defence of the two former MPs.
Duda had already pardoned Kamiński and Wąsik in 2015, which most experts at the time considered unlawful as no judgement was handed down in their case. After the verdict in 2023 and the arrest, the president pardoned them again, which resulted in the release of the politicians.
The president and party leaders insisted at the time that the two men were still MPs, despite the decision by parliamentary speaker Szymon Hołownia to declare their seats vacant as the Polish constitution banned people with criminal records from serving as MPs.
As a result, earlier this week Kamiński and Wąsik testified at the prosecutor’s office on charges of illegal participation in parliamentary work. Upon leaving the prosecutor’s office, Kamiński stated that he considered the charges “political repression” and “direct action ordered by the Civic Platform [Donald Tusk’s ruling party].” Wąsik, for his part, claimed that the actions against him and Kamiński were Tusk’s “personal revenge”.
The PiS would count on the popularity of the former MPs to help the party win votes in the June elections, former PiS government spokesman Piotr Muller noted.
They are recognised. Many people know how they fought corruption. Our voters would be mobilised in many areas (if they ran).
However, a majority of Poles, 79 per cent, opposed Kamiński and Wąsik running for the European Parliament, according to a Pollster Institute survey.
