Proceedings are under way before the Regional Court in Warsaw in a lawsuit filed by the former head of the Government Agency for Strategic Reserves (RARS), Michał Kuczmierowski, against the “Your Vote Matters” Foundation. During the presidential campaign, the foundation published hate-driven materials that, among other things, smeared right-wing candidates and representatives of their political circles. “It would be good if this post […] cooled the overheated heads of those politicians and commentators who equate the issuance of a decision to present charges with the handing down of a verdict,” said the attorney for the former head of RARS, Adam Gomoła.
The court has lifted the European Arrest Warrant against Marcin Romanowski. The reasoning behind the decision indicates that the case involved political pressure. It includes wording suggesting that the situation in Poland could be classified as a “crypto-dictatorship.”
The case has sparked strong emotions, and the narrative of the governing camp and media sympathetic to it is intended to create the impression that Romanowski is already guilty. Romanowski’s defense lawyer, Bartosz Lewandowski, posted an online statement reminding readers that the politician’s case is not an isolated one.
“The reasoning of the Regional Court in Warsaw in the Romanowski case clearly shows that the mere fact of charges being brought by the prosecution does not yet determine either guilt or perpetration by a given person. And at present we are witnessing a festival of media and political ‘public flogging’ of individuals and presenting them as thieves, fraudsters, and corrupt people. Such actions have consequences,” he wrote.
The lawyer also informed about a statement issued by the “Your Vote Matters” Foundation, which mentions the ongoing proceedings brought by the former head of the Government Agency for Strategic Reserves (RARS), Michał Kuczmierowski. The case concerns the infringement of personal rights, specifically campaign spots published by the foundation during the presidential campaign. Materials that ostensibly encouraged people to go to the polls in fact smeared right-wing candidates while simultaneously supporting Rafał Trzaskowski. In one of them, Kuczmierowski himself was defamed. The matter was commented on by Kuczmierowski’s lawyer, Adam Gomoła. “It would be good if this post by attorney Lewandowski cooled the overheated heads of those politicians and commentators who equate the issuance of a decision to present charges with the handing down of a verdict,” he wrote.
“In the case of Michał Kuczmierowski, such ‘excursions’ are a real plague,” he emphasized. Lewandowski had already mentioned in July this year that Kuczmierowski was suing the foundation in question. The former head of RARS is demanding an apology and the award of PLN 50,000 to one of the children’s hospices.