The National Prosecutor’s Office is stacking on charges for Father Olszewski which is clearly an action influenced by Minister of Justice Adam Bodnar, writes wPolityce.
This is an obvious setup by the Bodnar supporters, the portal writes, as the Court of Appeal will be considering the defense’s appeal against the extension of the suspects’ detention for previous charges this week.
The aim is to ensure that the priest, who is being tormented by investigators, and the two other defendants remain in detention. Interestingly, the prosecutor’s decision has stirred up considerable controversy among the prosecutors themselves, who provided this information to wPolityce.
Fr. Olszewski, arrested back in March, was the head of the Profeto Foundation, which was provided a multimillion grant under the previous conservative government. A total of 66 million zlotys was paid out, while the total should have been almost 100 million zloty (over €23 million, or $26 million). The project was designed to help victims of sexual violence, but the government contends his organization should have never received any funding.
The charges against the priest include colluding with officials “and benefiting from the fact that those who decided on the allocation of funds from the Justice Fund to various projects, including charitable ones, did so in a criminal manner.”
Attorney Krzysztof Wąsowski, one of the priest’s defenders, told the portal: “I was astonished to hear this information. The prosecutor’s office is clearly very afraid and is desperately trying to influence the court to overturn our appeals. Two days before the deadline?”
The “Bodnarists” (after Minister of Justice Adam Bodnar under the Donald Tusk-led government) do not want the suspects to have normal contact with the media, given the numerous irregularities in this case and the violation of human rights.
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Attorney Adam Gomoła, representing one of the Justice Fund detainees, wrote on X:
“The situation from August is unfortunately repeating itself. Two days before the session of the Court of Appeal in Warsaw, which is to decide on the further detention of Karolina K., Urszula D. and Father Olszewski, my client will be taken to the National Prosecutor’s Office. Guess for yourselves why. The question arises whether this is not another attempt to manually influence the Court of Appeal to keep them in detention. Then (in August) they added a “criminal group” to us. I wonder what they will come up with now.”
Back in early September, the priest showed up at a court hearing looking gaunt and sickly, while previously in July, there had been allegations that he was being tortured.
“Father Michał Olszewski lost 15 kg in custody. As his lawyer reported – ‘His health condition is very bad,’” reported wPolsce24 at the time.
Krzysztof Wąsowski then told the TV channel that “the 9th day has passed, and there is no justification for extending the arrest. Every day for these people there is a great loss of health and a part of their lives. Such nonchalance on the part of the court? We are helpless, without a justification we have no procedure for appealing this decision.”
At that hearing in September, even the prosecutor admitted there was no new evidence to support an extension.
His lawyer says this is now a “political issue, and that the “government has promised its voters that it will hold the PiS government accountable, especially regarding the Justice Fund.”
