An EAW has been issued for former deputy justice minister and current Polish MP Marcin Romanowski; any such warrant issued by the judicial authorities of one of the member states is valid throughout the territory of the European Union, but Hungary says the MP is being politically persecuted.
According to Do Rzeczy, Poland’s National Prosecutor’s Office (PK) accuses Romanowski of committing 11 crimes, including participating in an organized criminal group and rigging contests for multi-million grants from the Justice Fund (FS). The member of Solidarna and then Sovereign Poland oversaw the Justice Fund (FS) in 2019-2023 during the conservative Law & Justice (PiS) government. He faces up to 25 years in prison.
The deputy minister of justice was arrested despite having immunity as a member of the Council of Europe’s Parliamentary Assembly. The Warsaw-Mokotow District Court had recognized the Romanowski’s immunity, a decision appealed by PK but upheld by the Warsaw Regional Court. The prosecutor’s office, led by Justice Minister Adam Bodnar, then asked the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) to revoke his immunity, which it did on Oct. 2., claiming “there are no sufficient reasons to doubt the genuine intention of the prosecution.”
Bodnar has just recently indicated that for rule of law to return to Hungary, a change of government is needed.
Poland will be taking over the rotating EU Council presidency in January, and Bodnar's comments to @Politico have shed light on some of its priorities. pic.twitter.com/QPdUkhozLu
— Remix News & Views (@RMXnews) December 19, 2024PACE also noted in its release that it “regretted that Mr. Romanowski did not avail himself of the opportunity offered to him to be heard by the PACE Committee on Rules of Procedure, Immunities and Institutional Affairs, or to be represented by any member of the Assembly.”
Romanowski’s defense attorney, Bartosz Lewandowski, said that Romanowski requested asylum in connection with “politically motivated actions by the services and the National Prosecutor’s Office.” The government in Budapest confirmed the granting of asylum to the MP.
Minister of Interior and Administration Tomasz Siemoniak argued on TVN24 that Romanowski would answer before the Polish justice system and the investigation into the Justice Fund would continue.
“Contrary to what the attorney (Romanowski – ed.) claims, it was the court that decided. Not the prosecutor’s office, not the government, not politicians, but an independent court and also the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe, which lifted Mr. Romanowski’s immunity, unequivocally stating with this decision that this case is of a purely criminal nature,” Siemoniak said.
He also argued that the politician was not under surveillance. “I am surprised that he decided to take such a path. Today Budapest, tomorrow Moscow. We know where Hungary is on the political map of Europe today,” he added.
Siemoniak called the Hungarian government’s decision an act against European law. “We are dealing with an unprecedented situation, when the Hungarian government openly rejects an EU procedure, which is simply sacrosanct,” he said, adding, “There is a European Arrest Warrant (EAW), such a person should be detained and a local court should consider this situation.”
Meanwhile, Poland’s Foreign Minister Radosław Sikorski posted on X: “We consider the decision of Viktor Orbán’s government to grant political asylum to Mr. Romanowski, a suspect in criminal offenses and wanted under a European Arrest Warrant, to be an act hostile to the Republic of Poland and the principles of the European Union. Tomorrow, we will announce our decisions.”
Sejm Marshal Szymon Hołownia wants to strip Romanowski of his parliamentary salary. “In connection with his flight from the country, which means a clear betrayal of his parliamentary oath, I have instructed the Head of the Chancellery and the Sejm’s legal services to determine how the Republic of Poland can stop paying Mr. MP’s salary for the work he resigned from as soon as possible,” Hołownia stated on social media.
🇵🇱🌉🇭🇺Poles, you want to go to Hungary? Hungarian PM Orbán says he welcomes those fleeing political persecution in Poland
While Poland's Tusk-led government continues on a prosecutorial rampage, they have also written up a Christmas list of companies they say must be protected… pic.twitter.com/EzgXy3cZDQ
— Remix News & Views (@RMXnews) December 20, 2024As to Poland’s PM, Donald Tusk, he noted that he had relayed to Orbán that this move would be a bad idea. “If there were to be any strange decisions in Budapest that were incompatible with European law, such as political asylum, failure to respect the European arrest warrant, it would not be me who would be in a difficult situation, but Viktor Orbán. I told him that,” Tusk said at a press conference in Brussels.
Hungary’s prime minister only criticized the state of the rule of law in Poland, stating in an interview earlier on Thursday that Hungary “offers shelter to anyone who faces political persecution in their country.”
In another interview, Minister Gergely Gulyás, head of the Prime Minister’s Office, addressed possible consequences to granting asylum to Romanowski. “Since 2015, Hungary has stood firm in granting protection to those fleeing political persecution, whether they are former officials like Nikola Gruevski or now Romanowski,” he said.
