Polish parliament strips opposition leader and deputy leader of immunity

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Notes from Poland is run by a small editorial team and is published by an independent, non-profit foundation that is funded through donations from our readers. We cannot do what we do without your support.

The government’s majority in parliament has voted to strip legal immunity from Jarosław Kaczyński, leader of the national-conservative opposition Law and Justice (PiS) party, and Mariusz Błaszczak, PiS’s deputy leader and head of its parliamentary caucus.

Kaczyński will now face a defamation case brought by a politician from the ruling coalition whom the PiS leader accused of “repugnant crimes”. Błaszczak, meanwhile, faces much more serious charges relating to publishing classified military plans while he was serving as defence minister.

Last month, justice minister Adam Bodnar, who is also prosecutor general, requested that parliament lift Błaszczak’s immunity so that he could face charges of abusing his authority and disclosing classified information. If found guilty, he could be imprisoned for up to five years.

The case against Błaszczak relates to his decision in 2023, shortly before elections at which PiS was seeking a third term in office, to publish sections of historical military plans.

He claimed they showed how the opposition Civic Platform (PO) party – which at the time the plans were made had been in government – had planned to give up half of Poland if Russia invaded.

Prosecutors say that by releasing the material, Błaszczak exceeded his authority and did so “to gain personal benefits for his political group, the Law and Justice party”. However, he argues that he acted within the law and in the national interest.

On Thursday, due to the sensitive nature of the issues involved, the Sejm, the lower house of parliament, held a closed session to discuss the claims against Błaszczak. Subsequently, a majority of 245 MPs in the 460-seat chamber voted to strip Błaszczak of his immunity.

Most of the votes in favour came from the ruling coalition – which once again is led by PO – and most of those against came from PiS, which is now the main opposition party.

Meanwhile, in another vote, a majority of 236 MPs voted to lift the immunity of Kaczyński. The case against him concerns testimony he gave to a parliamentary inquiry into the use of Pegasus spyware under the former PiS government.

Kaczyński said that one of those targeted using Pegasus, PO politician Krzysztof Brejza, had “committed very serious and at the same time repugnant crimes”, reports news website Onet.

Brejza has never been charged with, let alone convicted of, any crimes. He therefore filed a civil defamation lawsuit against the PiS leader, demanding that he apologise. But for it to proceed, parliament had to lift Kaczyński’s immunity.

In his defence, Kaczyński argued that, while giving testimony to the parliamentary commission, he was required to be truthful and cannot be held legally accountable that, reports the Rzeczpospolita daily. He also noted his statements had been preceded with caveats such as “according to my understanding”.

Notes from Poland is run by a small editorial team and published by an independent, non-profit foundation that is funded through donations from our readers. We cannot do what we do without your support.

Main image credit: KPRM (under CC BY-NC-ND 3.0 PL)

Daniel Tilles

Daniel Tilles is editor-in-chief of Notes from Poland. He has written on Polish affairs for a wide range of publications, including Foreign Policy, POLITICO Europe, EUobserver and Dziennik Gazeta Prawna.