President Duda has submitted the amendment to the Penal Code of March 6th of this year to the Constitutional Tribunal under the procedure of preventive review, the Chancellery of the President announced on Thursday. The so-called “hate speech” law includes an expanded list of grounds for crimes motivated by prejudice.
According to the justification published by the Chancellery of the President, the President has expressed doubts as to whether the law complies with the constitutional principle of legal certainty.
It is also stated that “the contested provisions raise concerns with regard to the exercise of freedom of expression, as guaranteed by Article 54, paragraph 1 of the Constitution.”
The revised Penal Code expands the list of grounds for hate-motivated crimes to include national, ethnic, racial, religious affiliation, lack of religious belief, age, gender, disability, and sexual orientation.
The law broadens criminal liability by replacing the phrase “on account of his/her affiliation” with the phrase “in connection with affiliation.” As a result, criminal liability for the aforementioned crimes would also be possible in cases where the victim does not, in fact, possess the characteristic that provoked the perpetrator’s behaviour.
Crimes motivated by these prejudices would be subject to penalties of imprisonment.
On Wednesday, President Andrzej Duda was asked about the law during an interview with TVa Trwam.
“Above all, it is very characteristic that these leftist, left-liberal currents, which so loudly proclaim tolerance and so loudly advocate for diversity and its universal inclusion, are the first to block the possibility of free expression,”
the President responded.