Polish far-right leader Braun to face second trial

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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.

Polish far-right leader Grzegorz Braun will again stand trial, after prosecutors filed an indictment against him for a series of anti-Ukrainian, anti-Jewish, anti-LGBT and anti-EU acts committed during his presidential election campaign last year.

Braun is already separately on trial for a number of other alleged crimes, including an attack on a Jewish religious ceremony in parliament. He is also facing further charges for a range of other alleged offences.

On Wednesday, the district prosecutor’s office in Warsaw announced that it had indicted Braun for four alleged crimes. It was able to do so after the European Parliament, where Braun sits as an MEP, stripped him of immunity earlier this year.

One of the charges, for criminal defamation, stems from Braun’s claim, during a televised presidential debate in April last year, that the yellow paper daffodils distributed each year in Warsaw to mark the anniversary of the 1943 Jewish Ghetto Uprising against German Nazi rule are “symbols of shame”.

Prosecutors say that Braun’s words were “extremely xenophobic, manipulative and aggressive”, and that they defamed the organisers of the daffodil campaign, in particular the POLIN Museum of the History of Polish Jews in Warsaw.

During the same debate, Braun also warned about the “Judaisation” of Poland, saying that “Jews have far too much say in Polish affairs”. That prompted protests by some of his opponents, one of whom filed a notification to prosecutors.

Two other charges relate to thefts of flags. In one incident, Braun and his supporters removed a Ukrainian flag hanging outside city hall in the town of Biała Podlaska during a campaign event. In another, he removed a European Union flag from the industry ministry in the city of Katowice and set it on fire.

Braun regularly rails against what he calls the “Ukrainisation” of Poland, warning of the supposed dangers of having so many Ukrainian refugees and migrants in the country. He is also a vocal critic of the EU. On those and other issues, Braun’s rhetoric often echoes Russian propaganda.

The final charge, of destruction of property, relates to an incident in June 2025, when Braun vandalised an exhibition about the LGBT+ community in the Polish parliament. He regularly condemns what he calls the “perversions” of LGBT+ people, and has called for homosexuality to be criminalised.

The charges Braun faces carry prison sentences of up to five years in the case of destruction of property, and up to one year in the case of criminal defamation and theft.

Additionally, the deputy leader of Braun’s Confederation of the Polish Crown (KKP) party, Roman Fritz, was indicted for assisting in the theft of the EU flag, while four other men (who have not waived their right to anonymity under Polish law) were indicted for their alleged roles in stealing both the EU and Ukrainian flags.

All four incidents for which Braun has been indicted took place when he was campaigning for the May 2025 presidential elections, in which he finished a surprise fourth, with 6.3% of the vote.

Since then, KKP has continued to perform strongly in polls, with its support currently standing at around 9%. If it obtained that kind of result at next year’s parliamentary elections, it would be likely to play a major role in deciding what kind of government could be formed.

Much of Braun’s political brand has been built around provocative statements and actions. The politician is already on trial for his attack on a Jewish Hanukkah ceremony taking place in parliament, at which he put out the candles with a fire extinguisher.

In their statement on Wednesday, the Warsaw prosecutor’s office noted that the latest hearings in that trial had been cancelled after Braun presented a medical certificate justifying his absence.

However, the prosecutors pointed out that, last Friday, the day that the hearings had been due to begin, Braun attended a protest by opposition supporters outside the Constitutional Tribunal in Warsaw, which that evening had been taken over by government-backed judges.

Braun was pictured “jostling with police riot police, addressing the crowd and giving interviews”, showing “no signs of health problems that would prevent him from attending the hearing”, wrote the prosecutors. They have therefore asked the court to investigate the doctor who issued the medical certificate.

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: Philippe BUISSIN © European Union 2026 – Source: EP

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.