2024-07-17 14:50 update: 2024-07-17, 14:52
Photo PAP/Tomasz Gzell
Marcin Romanowski, a deputy justice minister in Poland's former Law and Justice (PiS) government who has been facing 11 charges, including misuse of public funds, was released by court on Tuesday night, one day after his detention.
Romanowski's parliamentary immunity was lifted last Friday and he was arrested on Monday pending a court decision on his pre-trial detention but his lawyer argued that he also holds immunity from the Council of Europe and thus cannot be detained.
Romanowski is a member of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE).
After being released, Romanowski said the reason for the court's decision was his PACE immunity.
At a press conference on Wednesday, Romanowski said that he would notify prosecutors in relation to what he called "unlawful deprivation of liberty" and "abuse of power" by those who had made the decision to detain him.
Prime Minister Donald Tusk said, regarding Romanowski's release, that "eleven counts of a felony will not disappear," and that the prosecution did a great job of collecting the evidence.
"What goes around, comes around," Tusk wrote on the X platform.
"Scenes resembling a gangster movie, suspect leaves arrest house thanks to legal tricks and doubtful immunity. Law enforcement takes the blame, and the audience is disappointed," he added.
In his notification, he will name the prosecutors investigating the Justice Fund case, deputy Justice Minister Arkadiusz Myrcha and Justice Minister Adam Bodnar, Romanowski said.
Romanowski is accused of having committed 11 crimes while in office, including granting unlawful subsidies from the justice ministry's Justice Fund, a special reserve originally designed to help victims of crime which, according to prosecution, was used to finance party interests by politicians from PiS's junior coalition partner, Sovereign Poland. According to the charges, the money was used for various unrelated purchases that were meant to increase support for Sovereign Poland politicians in their respective constituencies.
His release is a blow to the new coalition government led by Donald Tusk, which is determined to bring to justice a number of former PiS politicians who are accused of breaking the law. In another landmark case, a former interior minister and his deputy were pardoned by President Andrzej Duda, a PiS ally, after a court sentenced them to two years in prison for abuse of power. (PAP)
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