Polish judge flees to Belarus to seek asylum from "political persecution"

Tomasz Szmydt, a high-level Polish judge at the Voivodeship Administrative Court in Warsaw, spoke to media during the press conference in Minsk after he published his resignation letter in a post on messaging platform X.

"It is a sign of protest against Poland’s policy toward Belarus and Russia," he said.

Szmydt also accused the U.S. and Great Britain of pushing Poland into direct military conflict with Belarus and Russia and called on Polish authorities to start a dialogue with Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko and Russia.

"Due to my disagreement with politics and the government's actions I was forced to leave my country and I am currently residing in Belarus. I was persecuted and threatened for my independent political stand."

Poland's Internal Security Agency (ABW) has launched an inquiry meant to verify the range of classified information Szmydt had access to due to held office, said a spokesperson for the special services coordinator.

Polish Foreign Minister Radoslaw Sikorski called the information shocking. "I’m finding (it) hard to comment on, but apparently it's someone who was involved in the political witch-hunt in the previous term" he told Polish media.

"I'm in shock, frankly speaking. Well, we've already had a traitor before, it seems this is a similar case," Sikorski added.

Deputy Prime Minister and Defence Minister Władysław Kosiniak-Kamysz said Szmydt's case should be thoroughly investigated.

"If someone chooses Belarus, it means they acted on behalf of someone else's interests in Poland for years - on whose behalf?" - the MOD chief added.

Judge Szmydt was involved in the so-called "hate scandal," exposed in August 2019 by Onet.

The reporters alleged at the time that a group of online trolls had run a smear campaign targeting Polish judges opposed to the justice system overhaul carried out by the previous government, led by the nationalist Law and Justice party.

The group was believed to have been controlled by a former deputy justice minister Łukasz Piebiak.

Relations between Warsaw and Minsk deteriorated in 2021 when Poland accused its eastern neighbour of orchestrating a migrant crisis on its border and have become even more strained since the Russian invasion of Ukraine.

In December 2021, the Belarusian Border Guard said a Polish soldier had requested asylum after having been detained on Belarusian territory. The soldier, Emil Czeczko, was found dead in Minsk in mid-March 2022.

Warsaw says that the Polish minority in Belarus faces repression from the state, with some community leaders having been imprisoned.

Poland has been an important refuge for Lukashenko's opponents, and Warsaw has become one of Kyiv's staunchest supporters since Belarus' main ally Russia invaded Ukraine in February 2022.