Poland’s president says he will not rest until ex-interior minister and deputy freed from prison
Poland’s president has said he will not rest until two politicians from the opposition nationalist Law and Justice (PiS) party – both on hunger strike – are freed from prison, in a further dramatic escalation in the new government’s battle to restore the rule of law.
“I will not rest in the fight for a fair and just Polish state,” the president, Andrzej Duda, who is closely aligned with PiS, declared on Wednesday. “I won’t be scared. I will act legally, in accordance with the constitution and the law – as before.”
Former interior minister Mariusz Kaminski and his ex-deputy Maciej Wąsik, both of whom have been convicted of abuse of power, were sent to jail a day earlier.
After eight years of rule, PiS lost its majority in elections last October and the new government, headed by Donald Tusk, faces an uphill task undoing its predecessor’s policies and evicting its supporters from key posts in the media and justice system.
