Polish judge involved in espionage scandal loses immunity

A Polish judge with access to military secrets who sought asylum in Belarus appeared to be charged with espionage on Thursday after a Polish court said his immunity was being lifted.

Judge Tomasz Szmydt’s defection to a key Moscow ally brought into sharp focus Warsaw’s place as a prime target for Russian intelligence activities, as opposing lawmakers have traded blame over who allowed his ascent to the upper echelons of Poland’s legal system. “The Supreme Administrative Court – Disciplinary Tribunal of First Instance… adopted a resolution holding Judge Szmydt criminally liable, authorized his detention and pre-trial detention and suspended the designated judge from his official duties,” spokesperson Sylwester Marciniak told reporters. state news agency PAP.

Justice Minister Adam Bodnar had previously said that the lifting of Szmydt’s immunity would allow an arrest warrant and a note to Interpol to be issued, restricting his movements, but acknowledged that Polish services detained him in Belarus would not be able to arrest. Szmydt has denied the espionage accusations and said he has not broken any Polish or European law.

Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko said in comments carried by state news agency BelTA that he would consider Szmydt’s asylum request. “This is a patriotic, normal man,” Lukashenko told journalists on the sidelines of ceremonies marking the anniversary of the Soviet victory over Nazi Germany.

“We will look at all questions thoroughly and I will certainly think about it.” Lukashenko said he had provided Szmydt with bodyguards.

Since his arrival in Belarus, Szmydt has been interviewed on Russian and Belarusian state television and has claimed that he was forced to flee political persecution in Poland at the hands of a US-dominated government planning to is to start a conflict with Moscow and Minsk. POLAND REJECTS CLAIMS

Polish officials have dismissed such claims as absurd propaganda that reinforces accusations that he worked for foreign intelligence services. Meanwhile, lawmakers from Poland’s pro-European coalition government and the previous nationalist Law and Justice (PiS) government traded blows over who was responsible for allowing a man they believe to be a Belarusian agent to become a to become a high judge, without the security services having exposed him. .

“We are dealing with the mysterious story of a person who has made enormous progress in the Polish legal system in a short time thanks to the support and involvement of Law and Justice politicians,” Deputy Justice Minister Arkadiusz Myrcha told parliament. Former Justice Minister Zbigniew Ziobro said on social media platform

The judge first came to public attention in Poland for his part in a trolling scandal that led to the resignation of a deputy justice minister in 2019. He was part of a group accused of targeting judges who criticized the to discredit the PiS government’s judicial reforms by planting media rumors about their private lives.

He appeared in a television documentary in 2022 in which he revealed details about his participation in the group.

(This story has not been edited by Devdiscourse staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)