WARSAW - Poland's lower house of parliament has stripped the leader of the opposition Law and Justice (PiS) party, Jaroslaw Kaczyński, of his parliamentary immunity over allegations by activist Zbigniew Komosa that the politician punched him in the face. The Sejm, on the other hand, did not waive Kaczyński's immunity in connection with the destruction of a wreath at the memorial to the victims of the 2010 air disaster.
Komosa accused Jarosław Kaczyński of punching him twice in the face during a scuffle at a PiS rally to commemorate the victims of the crash of a government special, which killed, among others, the brother and twin brother of PiS chief Lech Kaczyński, who was president at the time.
The incident took place on 10 October this year at the memorial to the victims of the air disaster in the centre of Warsaw. According to TVN24, Komosa has filed a court complaint against the head of Poland's strongest opposition party.
In Friday's vote, 241 MPs voted in favour of lifting Kaczyński's immunity, 206 were against and no one abstained. The Sejm, on the other hand, did not agree to waive the immunity of the opposition leader and two other PiS deputies over the destruction of a wreath by Komos, which they did not approve, at the same monument. In this case, 177 lawmakers were in favour of waiving the immunity of the trio of politicians, 268 were against and one abstained, TVN 24 reported.
According to PAP, Kaczyński said he had expected the lifting of his immunity and that he was "not particularly concerned". He added that his behaviour towards the activist Komos was a self-defensive reaction and stemmed from "a feeling of total impunity of this man".
The Sejm's decision is a blow to Kaczyński, who was virtually untouchable when his party ruled Poland from 2015 to 2023, PAP wrote. Kaczynski was considered by many to be Poland's most powerful politician at the time.
Lech Kaczynski and 95 other people, including Poland's first lady, members of parliament and the military, died on 10 April 2010 when a government plane attempted to land in thick fog near Smolensk, western Russia. The delegation was heading to Katyn to honour the thousands of Polish officers murdered by the Soviet NKVD secret police. According to the Polish investigation, the plane crashed near the Smolensk airport due to mistakes by the Polish pilots and Russian airport staff.
However, Jaroslaw Kaczyński claimed for years that his brother had been murdered, PAP reports. Soon after the tragedy, the late president's brother began paying tribute to the victims at a memorial in central Warsaw every tenth day of the month. Critics said his real aim was to use the tragedy for political gain, PAP said, adding that clashes between Kaczynski's supporters and opponents occurred at rallies at the monument.
idnes.cz / gnews.cz-jav_07
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