Remix News reported last week that on Wednesday, Polish Law and Justice (PiS) MP Dariusz Matecki announced that he was waiving his parliamentary immunity in the face of charges that were being made against him by the Prosecutor’s Office, saying that MPs should not be above the people. He made the announcement in a speech he gave in English before the Sejm, proclaiming his innocence while dramatically wearing handcuffs.
Matecki claimed that he was being persecuted as part of the ruling coalition’s revenge against the opposition. On Thursday, the Sejm approved his arrest and temporary detention.
Matecki has been charged with being fictitiously employed at the Regional Directorate of the State Forests in Szczecin from 2020 to 2023, defrauding state-owned companies of PLN 320,000 (approximately €77,000), and other forms of corruption.
The MP was detained and taken into custody by officers of the Internal Security Agency on Friday morning while en route to the Prosecutor’s Office to turn himself in, according to a report by Do Rzeczy. His arrest was quite dramatic, with officers stopping his car and pulling him out of it in the middle of traffic on a busy street.
The MP was charged with six criminal counts, which together could lead to up to 10 years in prison if he is convicted. Matecki has never before been charged with any crime and maintains his innocence.
Besides Matecki’s own arrest, his wife’s apartment was also searched by the authorities. PiS condemned what they referred to as the state’s efforts to intimidate his family.
On Friday afternoon, Przemysław Nowak, the spokesman for the Prosecutor’s Office, announced that the court had ordered Matecki to be detained for a period of two months.
Kacper Stukan, Matecki’s attorney, announced that he would be filing a complaint against the court’s decision. He explained that his client’s arrest was unnecessary given that there was no flight risk in his case.
Polish Minister of Justice Adam Bodnar ominously took to X to share a copy of the order for Matecki’s arrest with the heading, “To be continued . . .”
Donald Tusk’s left-liberal Civic Coalition government has frequently used the law to punish those associated with the country’s previous right-wing ruling coalition since coming to power in late 2023. Dozens of PiS politicians have been charged with crimes, and two other PiS MPs, Mariusz Kamiński and Maciej Wąsik, were arrested on corruption charges that they had previously been pardoned for. Both have been sentenced to two years’ imprisonment for “abuse of power.”
Similarly, former Deputy Minister of Justice Marcin Romanowski was charged with 11 counts of corruption. He fled to Hungary and was granted asylum there, which has led to tensions between the two governments.
