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| Michał Olszewski (photo: Radio Maryja) |
For years, the EU has claimed that democracy in Poland was in danger from the ruling conservative Law & Justice party (PiS). Since 2017, the EU has questioned the rule of law in Poland, just as in Hungary. When former European Council President Donald Tusk came to power in December 2023, all was supposed to get better. Just like in Lula’s Brazil and Joe Biden’s USA, the opposite happened: Since his takeover of power in December 2023, the model democrat Donald Tusk started locking up the political opposition in Poland. Now, an imprisoned priest claims has was tortured.
Immediately after Donald Tusk came to power with only 30.7% of the votes, he had the public broadcaster TV Poland stormed by the police and the management fired.
Former intelligence chief Mariusz Kamiński and his former deputy Maciej Wąsik were arrested in January 2024 and have been in custody ever since.
In March, PiS-affiliated priest Michał Olszewski was arrested in Poland for unclear reasons. The accusation was “corruption,” but no charges have been filed yet. In July, his pre-trial detention was extended by another three months.
Olszewski and his lawyers now claim he was tortured while in custody.
In a letter to the conservative weekly newspaper Sieci, Olszewski complained that after his arrest, he was locked up in solitary confinement for two weeks and was denied food and drink. Olszewski had to wear handcuffs all the time. The light in his cell was left on at night.
“I asked for half a bottle of tap water,” said Olszewski. The guards told him to pee in his drinking bottle.
According to his lawyers, Olszewski had nothing to eat during his
first 60 hours in prison and lost 33 lbs during his imprisonment.
💬 PiS President J. Kaczyński:
— Law and Justice (@pisorgpl_EN) July 2, 2024
Despite being very critical of Donald Tusk's political party, we simply did not expect that torture would be used - in this case against Father Michał Olszewski, a man who is currently in temporary custody. Torture is both absolutely unacceptable… pic.twitter.com/ed34YExZV3
“Although we have always sharply criticized the party of Donald Tusk, we would never have expected them to use torture – in this case against Father Michał Olszewski, a man who is currently in pre-trial detention,” said PiS leader Jarosław Kaczyński: “Torture is both absolutely unacceptable and illegal in the Polish constitution and in international law . … In any normal country, the Interior Minister would resign, but the responsible Minister (Marcin Kierwiński) has already managed to move to the European Parliament.”
As in the case of Brazil and J6, the usual proponents of “democracy” and “human rights” are silent.
