2024-07-13 07:31 update: 2024-07-15, 18:49
Photo: PAP/Piotr Nowak
The Sejm, lower house of the Polish parliament, on Friday lifted immunity of Mariusz Blaszczak, defence minister, and Marcin Romanowski, deputy justice minister, in the former Law and Justice (PiS) government.
A request to strip Blaszczak of immunity was submitted by former Polish Armed Forces Operational Commander Gen Tomasz Piotrowski, who accused him of public slander.
At a press conference held on May 2023, Blaszczak blamed Piotrowski for failing to inform him or the relevant services about a Russian missile that had violated Polish airspace and crashed in northern Poland in December 2022. A later report by the Supreme Audit Office revealed that he was aware of the incident since at least January 2, 2023.
In October 2023, just before the parliamentary elections, Piotrowski and Chief of General Staff Gen Rajmund Andrzejczak resigned from their positions.
The Sejm agreed to pre-trial detention for Marcin Romanowski at the request of Adam Bodnar, the justice minister and prosecutor general.
Romanowski is accused of 11 crimes, including granting unlawful subsidies from the Justice Ministry's Justice Fund, a special reserve, originally designed to help victims of crimes, which, according to prosecution, was used to finance party interests by politicians from PiS's junior coalition partner, Sovereign Poland. (PAP)
aj/mf
