“It is an aberration that an MP cannot effectively perform their mandate and, on the basis of their parliamentary ID, was not allowed into the premises of the National Prosecutor’s Office. Obstructing MPs in carrying out their duties is a crime,” said Law and Justice (PiS) MP Agnieszka Wojciechowska van Heukelom, commenting on the creation of a special prosecutorial team led by Ewa Wrzosek.
On May 20, during the questioning of Tomasz Sakiewicz, CEO of TV Republika, at the National Prosecutor’s Office, a group of TV Republika journalists and a group of Law and Justice (PiS) MPs entered the building. The MPs attempted to carry out a parliamentary inspection, but this was obstructed. They were granted entry by Deputy Prosecutor General Tomasz Janeczek, who was subsequently suspended for six months by Waldemar Żurek.
Moreover, Minister of Justice and Prosecutor General Waldemar Żurek decided to establish an investigative team to examine the incident. It will be headed by Ewa Wrzosek, who currently serves as the minister’s General Counsel.
Wojciechowska van Heukelom: Obstructing MPs’ duties is a crime
Today, Law and Justice (PiS) MPs who entered the National Prosecutor’s Office last week addressed the matter during a press briefing.
“We learned from the media that a special team is being created to prosecute individuals who entered the National Prosecutor’s Office last Wednesday. Those individuals are MPs and journalists. MP Jan Mosiński and I are among them. It is an aberration that an MP cannot effectively perform their mandate and, on the basis of their parliamentary ID, was not allowed into the premises of the National Prosecutor’s Office. Obstructing MPs in carrying out their duties is a crime. Meanwhile, the team was established under extraordinary circumstances, at a time when we are seeing numerous attacks on the homes and offices of right-wing politicians and journalists. In that case, no such team is operating – only police officers under prosecutorial supervision, with no special team – I established this during an inspection on Monday. We are outraged by this situation and believe that Donald Tusk’s government should explain this blatant restriction on MPs’ ability to perform their mandate”, said MP Agnieszka Wojciechowska van Heukelom.
Warchoł: A continuation of “snarling democracy”
Law and Justice (PiS) MP and former Minister of Justice Marcin Warchoł pointed out that the provisions of the Act on the Exercise of the Mandate of an MP and Senator guarantee “MPs the right to carry out interventions in institutions such as the prosecutor’s office.”
“This is action taken to protect citizens’ rights and uphold the law, and MPs not only had the right but in fact the duty to undertake such an intervention on that day in light of the events we witnessed”, Warchoł added.
In his view, the establishment of the team is “an absolute political farce.”
“It is to be headed by prosecutor Ewa Wrzosek, who has already discredited herself with what happened around the questioning of the late Barbara Skrzypek. (…) This tragedy should serve as a warning signal also for the prosecutor’s office itself not to allow this person to decide on matters crucial to state security. Prosecutors themselves do not trust her. Through that questioning, through abuse, the authorities discredited both themselves and the prosecutor’s office she represents. Legal consequences have not been drawn to this day – they will come when the rule of law is restored”, argued Marcin Warchoł.
He added that at the National Prosecutor’s Office “we were dealing with a lawful intervention.”
“The MPs were received by a prosecutor working there, and now they are being threatened with criminal proceedings, and a team under Ewa Wrzosek is being established. This is unacceptable and is a continuation of a snarling democracy, guided by the law as Donald Tusk understands it”, the former minister concluded.