“What we are witnessing today is the purest form of political repression — something we haven’t seen since 1989. And now, this situation involving Ms. Anna’s son… it’s a tremendous tragedy, pure brutality,” said Radosław Fogiel (PiS), commenting on the shocking reports about the suicide attempt of a 13-year-old boy, the son of Anna W., who is currently being held in custody.
In January, Anna W., her husband, and Paweł K., the owner of a PR agency, were arrested by the Central Anti-Corruption Bureau. Recently, Anna’s husband, Marek W., was released from custody. Anna, however, remains in detention; on Thursday, she was brought in for questioning at the prosecutor’s office, although the lead prosecutor was not present. She arrived in shackles, with both her hands and feet cuffed.
During the evening broadcast of “W Punkt” on TV Republika, attorney Krzysztof Wąsowski, Anna W.’s defense lawyer, shared information about the health of her son, 13-year-old Franciszek, who had attempted to take his own life.
“Today I submitted the third request to change the pre-trial detention measure, attaching two emails from the child’s father. One is dated March 23, the other March 26. In one of them, he writes that ‘(the child’s) mental state is deteriorating,’ and that ‘last Thursday, during a visit with his grandmother, he went into a rage. He was running around the apartment with a knife, shouting that he didn’t want to live anymore.’ Only the grandmother’s intervention prevented a tragedy. The entire family is involved in watching over him to make sure he doesn’t hurt himself. To me, this is deeply shocking.”
These disturbing developments were also commented on by Radosław Fogiel on TV Republika:
“What we’re seeing now is political repression, pure and simple, unlike anything we’ve seen since 1989. It’s sheer brutality — treating a woman this way, holding her like the worst kind of criminal, transporting her in chains. And now this with her son… it’s a heartbreaking tragedy.”
He added: “I just wonder how Mr. Bodnar feels about all of this — how he looks his friends in the eyes.”
“This is the same man who had no problem sounding the alarm when a young girl’s murderer was being led in heavy restraints, claiming it was excessive. And now Bodnar lends his name and face to actions like these, targeting ordinary people who have committed no murder,” Fogiel said.
Anna W. has been charged with participating in an organized criminal group. Prosecutors allege that she accepted 3.5 million PLN in exchange for influencing the outcome of a public procurement — the delivery of power generators. The case is related to the so-called RARS scandal. Charges have also been brought against the head of RARS, Michał K., and Paweł Sz., founder of the clothing brand Red is Bad, parts of whose testimony were published by Republika on Wednesday.