A Polish judge fled to Belarus, where he says he is seeking asylum due to political persecution in Poland because of his opposition to the government, which he accused of “leading the country to war under the influence of the United States and Great Britain”.
Tomasz Szmydt, who is a judge at the provincial administrative court in Warsaw, and his ex-wife were involved in a controversial case under the former Law and Justice (PiS) government in which figures linked to the justice ministry were accused of conducting a smear campaign against judges critical of PiS’s judicial reforms.
Znany wcześniej z "afery hejterskiej" w Ministerstwie Sprawiedliwości sędzia Tomasz Szmydt, uciekł na Białoruś, gdzie okazał się gorącym działaczem pacyfistycznym, który krytykuje polskie władze za wciąganie Polaków do wojny pod dyktando USA
🔗https://t.co/1U8r3t7o9I https://t.co/Poy2PnOfoq
— Biełsat (@Bielsat_pl) May 6, 2024
“Due to disagreement with the policy and actions of the authorities, I was forced to leave my home country and I am currently staying in Belarus,” wrote Szmydt on messaging service Telegram this morning alongside an image of himself in Minsk.
“I was persecuted and intimidated for my independent political stance,” he continued. “I am expressing my protest to the Polish authorities who, under the influence of the USA and Great Britain, are leading the country to war.
“The Polish nation supports peace and good neighbourly relations with Belarus and Russia,” added the judge. “That is why I am in Minsk and ready to tell the truth.”
Szmydt then gave a press conference at the headquarters of BelTA, the state-owned Belarusian news agency that functions as a propaganda mouthpiece for the regime of President Alexander Lukashenko. His remarks closely echoed the rhetoric of the Minsk government.
The judge repeated his claims of facing persecution in Poland, described Belarus as an “open and friendly country”, and praised Lukashenko as a “very wise leader” who “has “>done a lot to keep peace in our regions [sic]”, according to BelTA. He also accused the West of “trying to destroy Belarus”.
During the conference, Szmydt announced that he was submitting his resignation as a judge and asking the Belarusian authorities to provide him with protection.
In 2021, a Polish soldier, Emil Czeczko, also fled to Belarus claiming asylum. The following year, Belarusian authorities announced that he had been found dead by hanging at his home in Belarus.
Prosecutors have opened an investigation into the Polish soldier who last week fled to Belarus, where he appeared on state TV and made accusations against Poland.
Details have also emerged of the legal troubles the soldier was facing before his escape https://t.co/V0j7PRtBMU
— Notes from Poland 🇵🇱 (@notesfrompoland) December 20, 2021
In 2019, it emerged that a group of judges, including Szmydt, ran an online smear campaign against judges, prosecutors and others opposed to the then PiS government’s policies. The group was allegedly coordinated by Łukasz Piebiak, a deputy justice minister.
The episode, which was dubbed the “hate affair” by the Polish media, allegedly involved using social media accounts – including one run by Szmydt’s then-wife, Emilia (known online as “mała Emi”, meaning “Little Emi”) – to smear opponents.
Emilia Szmydt later became a whistleblower who revealed details of the operation to the media. In 2022, Szmydt himself admitted his role in the campaign to news outlets Onet and OKO.press and apologised for it.
Earlier this year, Onet reported that Piebiak had been called for questioning by prosecutors who – now under the authority of a new government that replaced PiS in December – are investigating the affair.
The deputy justice minister who was identified in a media report yesterday as being involved in directing an anonymous smear campaign against judges opposed to judicial reform has resigned https://t.co/KqViAoU99l
— Notes from Poland 🇵🇱 (@notesfrompoland) August 20, 2019
Poland and Belarus have had tense relations in recent years. In 2020, Poland began welcoming Belarusian refugees fleeing amid the repression of protests against Lukashenko’s declared presidential election victory. The PiS government also strongly supported the democratic Belarusian opposition.
From 2021, Belarus began to help tens of thousands of migrants and refugees – mostly from the Middle East, Asia and Africa – try to cross the border into Poland, in what the Polish government and EU authorities called a “hybrid attack”.
Since Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, which took place with the support of Belarus, tensions between Warsaw and Minsk have further worsened.
At the time of publication, Poland’s government had not commented on Szmydt’s defection to Belarus.
An internal border guard report shows the scale of attempted crossings by migrants – mostly from Asia and the Middle East – into Poland from Belarus.
Over twice as many were detected in 2023 as in 2022, with those who crossed then seeking to reach Germany https://t.co/jQHlNMbhw6
— Notes from Poland 🇵🇱 (@notesfrompoland) January 2, 2024
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Main image credit: BelTA
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.
