Polish president says will pardon jailed ex-lawmakers

WARSAW — Polish President Andrzej Duda on Thursday said he would pardon two populist ex-lawmakers who were arrested at his residence.

Police on Tuesday detained prominent Law and Justice (PiS) politicians Mariusz Kaminski and Maciej Wasik at the presidential palace, where they sought refuge after being sentenced for overstepping their authority.

Originally convicted in 2015, Kaminski and Wasik lost an appeal in December, after which the appeals court ordered their arrest.

After a meeting with the men’s wives, Duda said he would “launch the pardon procedure” at their request, calling the detained PiS politicians “political prisoners”.

The high-profile case is the latest instance to pit Poland’s new pro-EU government against the populist PiS Party, which lost power in an election last year.

Both sides have traded accusations of alleged rule of law violations as the verdict issued last month highlighted judicial chaos in the country.

Duda, closely allied with PiS, had already granted a pardon to both men in 2015, but the decision was annulled by the supreme court as it was taken before the appeals court had its final say on the matter.

But on Thursday, delivering a statement alongside the wives of Kaminski and Wasik, Duda said he would ask the Prosecutor General to release the men from jail.

“I had said I would make every effort so that these men are free again, as soon as possible, so that they would be free people and not political prisoners,” Duda said.

On Wednesday, both Kaminski and Wasik launched a hunger strike while in detention.

“We saw the president as a last resort. We’re hoping to see our husbands back home today,” Romualda Wasik, Maciej Wasik’s wife said after Duda’s announcement.

Kaminski was found guilty along with his then deputy Wasik at the CBA anti-corruption agency of masterminding a fake graft case to discredit a high-level politician.