Poland’s president has given refuge to two politicians convicted of abuse of power, welcoming the members of the former ruling party into the presidential palace as police went to their homes to arrest them.
The legal drama is building into a stand-off between the new government, led by Prime Minister Donald Tusk, and Law and Justice, the national conservative party that governed Poland for eight years until last month after its defeat in a general election in October.
President Andrzej Duda, whose second and last term runs until mid-2025, is closely aligned politically with Law and Justice, and is making it clear that he will oppose Mr Tusk’s agenda.
The escalating dispute centres on two senior members of Law and Justice, former interior minister Mariusz Kaminski and his former deputy Maciej Wasik.
They were convicted of abuse of power for actions taken in 2007 when they served in an earlier Law and Justice-led government, and were sentenced in December to two years in prison. They both insist they are innocent.
On Monday a court issued orders for police to arrest them and deliver them to prison.
After Law and Justice won power in 2015, Mr Duda issued a pardon to Kaminski and Wasik after they were convicted of abuse of power but before their appeals had gone to a higher court, allowing them to take on high government positions.
Many legal experts argued that presidential pardons are to be reserved for cases that have gone through all appeals.
In June, Poland’s Supreme Court overturned the presidential pardons and ordered a retrial.
On Tuesday, Mr Duda invited the two men to his palace for a ceremony where he appointed two officials who had worked for them as his new advisers. His office posted a photo of him posing with all four.
After the ceremony, Kaminski and Wasik went outside to deliver remarks to reporters, telling them police had searched their homes while they were away. They then went back inside the presidential palace, where they remained for several hours.
“We are not hiding,” Kaminski said. “We are currently with the president of the Republic of Poland until evil loses.”
Mr Tusk accused the president of going along with actions by Law and Justice to create chaos and instability after its electoral defeat.
“He (Duda) must stop this spectacle, which is leading to a very dangerous situation,” Mr Tusk said.
Parliamentary speaker Szymon Holownia postponed a planned session of the Sejm, the lower house of parliament, which had been scheduled to start on Wednesday, until next week.
Kaminski and Wasik, who were re-elected as legislators in October, said they wanted to take part in the session, even though Mr Holownia and others insist that, under the law, their guilty sentences strip them of their parliamentary mandates.
Mr Holownia said the situation had created a “deep constitutional crisis… that does not guarantee that the Sejm’s deliberations this week would be peaceful”.
Mr Tusk said Mr Duda is obstructing justice. At a news conference, he read out a section of the penal code which he alleged Mr Duda has violated, and carries a prison term from three months to five years.
“I just want the president to be aware of what his political friends have tricked him into. They are the ones setting a trap for him, not me,” Mr Tusk said.
