I decided to launch pardon proceedings under the procedure outlined in the Criminal Code. It has been carried out in full. A pardon order has been issued. I call for the immediate release of both Mariusz Kamiński and Maciej Wąsik - President Andrzej Duda said on Tuesday (Jan. 23).
Earlier on Tuesday, Justice Minister and Prosecutor General Adam Bodnar issued his negative opinion regarding the pardon procedure regarding the two jailed former PiS ministers - Mariusz Kamiński and Maciej Wąsik - launched by President Andrzej Duda.
The minister's opinion, however, is not binding for the head of state.
At a press briefing, held on Tuesday alongside the wives of jailed former ministers, President Duda said he decided to go ahead with the pardon.
He also called for the immediate release of the two detained politicians.
Duda attacks Bodnar
In his statement, Duda criticized Bodnar for not deciding to allow Kamiński and Wąsik to take a break from serving their sentence. "He could have done it at least due to humanitarian causes, to ensure social order."
"Despite my calls, despite the deteriorating health condition minister Mariusz Kamiński has found himself in, despite the ongoing hunger strike, despite Mr Mariusz Kamiński's hospitalization, Adam Bodnar has not done it," he added.
"From a human point of view, I can't understand why you have failed to act like a former Commissioner for Human Rights and someone who for years had worked for the Helsinki Foundation for Human Rights. I regret you couldn't afford this simple human gesture," Duda said.
"For me, they have always been pardoned"
Duda had already pardoned the two politicians back in 2015, allowing them to become ministers in the PiS government. He had done so, however, before the final court sentence was passed.
Within days of their imprisonment in January, Duda announced that he had started the process of pardoning them for a second time.
"For me, they have always been pardoned, but taking into account the social unrest, I decided to initiate the (new) pardon proceedings," Duda said on Tuesday.
Arrested for abuse of power
On Dec. 20, 2023, the Regional Court in Warsaw sentenced Kamiński and Wąsik to two years in prison for abuse of power years back in the so-called "land scandal". The two politicians were detained by the police on Jan. 9 and placed in separate prisons shortly after.
On Jan. 11, President Duda launched a second pardoning procedure of Kamiński and Wąsik, acting at the request of the jailed politicians' wives. He also asked minister Bodnar, who is also Poland's prosecutor general, to suspend their imprisonment for the duration of the pardoning procedure.
Adam Bodnar confirmed he had received the president's request in that regard and launched the proceedings. The justice minister told TVN24 on Monday (Jan. 15) he would look into the Kamiński and Wąsik's case files and that he would send them back to the president "in a few days," along with his opinion on the matter. He added that from then on "everything is in the president's hands".
Źródło: TVN24 News in English, PAP, Reuters