The cancellation of the mandate of Mariusz Kaminski and another opposition representative, Maciej Wasik, was signed by the Speaker of the Chamber of Deputies on December 21, after the court sentenced the representatives to prison.
The Supreme Court (SN) chamber responsible for extraordinary audit cases found on Friday:
The deprivation of Kaminsky's term was illegal because President Andrzej Duda pardoned the politician in 2015.
The Chamber made a similar decision in the Wasik case on Thursday.
Kaminski and Wasek are currently representatives of the opposition Law and Justice party and former heads of the Polish Anti-Corruption Agency (CBA). Kaminski was Interior Minister until the end of November, and Wasik was Deputy Interior Minister in the PiS government until the beginning of December.
Their case dates back to the period of the first PiS government (2005-2007), when Kaminski was head of the Anti-Corruption Commission and Wasik was his deputy. In 2007, the Anti-Corruption Bureau's anti-corruption operation was organized, as a result of which two colleagues of the then Minister of Agriculture were convicted of corruption.
On the other hand, Kaminski and Vasek were accused of exceeding their authority regarding provocation, and in 2015 they were sentenced to three years in prison. In November 2015, Andrzej Duda granted presidential pardons to politicians who had not been convicted.
However, National Grid ordered new action against them in June this year, and in December they were sentenced to two years in prison.
Justice Minister Adam Bodnar linked the network's decision on Friday to the judicial reform initiated by the PiS government after 2015 and questioned by the European Union. Bodnar noted that “the situation of judges (…) needs to be resolved,” referring to judges who, according to some, were illegally appointed during the reform.
Piotr Prusinovsky, head of the SN Labor Chamber, questioned the status of the extraordinary inspection chamber on Friday and announced that Kaminski's appeal would also be evaluated by the body he runs.
In fact, Simon Holonia addressed the appeal of Kaminski and Vasek directly to the Working Chamber (where the majority includes “old judges”).
Malgorzata Manowska, President of SN, confirmed in her official statement on Friday,
Holonia tried to appoint judges who met certain requirements to circumvent applicable legislation when he applied directly to the Labor Chamber.
PiS representative Marcin Warscholl announced on Friday that his party had submitted a report to the public prosecutor against Holonia. Warscholl said the Speaker of the House of Representatives was suspected of committing a crime by the PiS, as Holonia “personally chose” a member of the National Party to whom he referred the Kaminski and Vasek case.
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