“No one denies that Tusk received a mandate to exercise power. The problem is that he exercises this mandate in a way that suggests he no longer wants a democratic mandate. If someone introduces censorship, throws political opponents into prison, strips political competition of funding, and destroys independent entities, it means they have a serious problem with democracy,” said Tomasz Sakiewicz, the station’s president, on air on TV Republika.
“Assad, Maduro… Tusk?” – this post triggered a storm on Polish social media. Tomasz Sakiewicz’s short tweet was seen on X by nearly three million users, and hysteria erupted in the comments. A heated debate followed, involving the leaders of the largest parties – Prime Minister Donald Tusk and the leader of Law and Justice (PiS), Jarosław Kaczyński.
When the dust settled somewhat, the man at the center of the controversy spoke out.
“Apparently I am supposed to get twenty years or more for attempting to overthrow the Tusk system. The funniest thing is that I expressed no opinion whatsoever. I wrote only three words, three surnames next to each other. And that is already an attempt to overthrow the system!“
said the station’s president, Tomasz Sakiewicz..
“I remember how under communism I was accused of forcibly overthrowing the communist system. I was just a kid, so the secret police summoned my father. But back then we were distributing leaflets, staging demonstrations. Here, I only wrote three words – nothing more. Roman Giertych and half the government concluded that this was an attempt to overthrow the government,”
he noted.
“I referred to three leaders who have a problem with democracy. If someone did not believe that we have a serious problem with democracy, they can believe it now. Donald Tusk made some desperate post saying that Europe must unite against a threat. Except that recent events concern not Ukraine, but Venezuela. So are we supposed to unite against the United States? He seems to have truly believed that someone will put him in a helicopter and take him to prison. We are dealing with idiocy above the Gomułka-era level. One thing has to be taken seriously. In panic, they are capable of destroying. In fear, they are capable of attacking,”
added Sakiewicz.
Sakiewicz emphasized that “no one denies that Tusk received a mandate to exercise power.”
“The problem is that he exercises this mandate in such a way as if he no longer wanted a democratic mandate. If someone introduces censorship, throws political opponents into prison, strips political competition of funding, and destroys independent entities, it means they have a serious problem with democracy,”
he said.
“Of course, no one will kidnap Tusk, no one will put him on trial (at least not an American one). However, those who assist him in anti-democratic actions will have to answer before a Polish court,”
summarized the president of TV Republika.
Action Democracy (Akcja Demokracja) wants 20 years in prison for Sakiewicz
Action Democracy (Akcja Demokracja), known for actions in the past directed against the United Right (Zjednoczona Prawica), has now announced a campaign to “collect signatures” under a notification to the prosecutor’s office in connection with Tomasz Sakiewicz’s post. In their view, the statement fulfills the elements of a prohibited act under Article 128 of the Polish Criminal Code, concerning an attack on a constitutional body of the Republic of Poland, punishable by up to 20 years in prison.
Michał Rachoń, program director of TV Republika, recalled that employees and volunteers of Action Democracy are responsible for political advertisements promoting Rafał Trzaskowski during the presidential campaign and attacking other candidates, in particular those from the right-wing camp.
“People from #ActionDemocracy (…) believe that the opinion of the head of the largest Polish news station expressed on platform X constitutes an attempt to >>remove by force<< a Polish constitutional body. This is precisely why we warn, and will continue to warn, against the crypto-dictatorship that Donald Tusk has been consistently implementing since the first days of his term, in line with the theses of the German Klaus Bachmann,”
wrote Rachoń.