“We showed Poles the dangers on the western border and raised awareness of the problem of the aggressive migration policy pursued by Germany,” Robert Bąkiewicz admitted on TV Republika. According to the leader of the Border Defense Movement, the indictment brought against him is political revenge for his activity on the Polish-German border.
On December 31 last year, the District Prosecutor’s Office in Gorzzów Wielkopolski filed an indictment with the court against Robert Bąkiewicz, accusing him of “insulting four officers of the Border Guard and the Military Gendarmerie at the border crossing in Słubice.” Bąkiewicz could face up to three years in prison. The leader of the Border Defense Movement addressed the charges on TV Republika.
“There are many proceedings being conducted against me. Judicial and police ones – probably several dozen cases…” he pointed out.
In Bąkiewicz’s view, the indictment is “an element of Donald Tusk’s political struggle against the Border Defense Movement.”
“It turned out that, very effectively from a non-parliamentary level, we were able to point out to Poles the dangers on the western border and raise awareness of the problem of the aggressive migration policy pursued by Germany. We finally exposed Tusk’s weakness – his submissiveness toward Germany,” he said.
“The punishment that is supposed to befall me is a ‘reward’ for defending Polish security,” he emphasized.
Bąkiewicz Warns Against Censorship
“The charges brought against me are insulting public officials and hatred on the grounds of nationality toward migrants and toward Germans,” he recalled.
Referring to the second charge, he added: “It fits into ‘hate speech’ and the entire package of solutions that Mr. Żurek is preparing with his gang. They want to decide who uses hate speech and who does not. In reality, this is censorship. A prelude to tyranny that is meant to affect us.”
On March 26 last year, the Senate adopted a law on combating “hate speech.” In April, President Andrzej Duda referred it to the Constitutional Tribunal, which in September found it unconstitutional. However, Minister of Justice Waldemar Żurek is attempting to circumvent the Tribunal’s ruling and introduce its provisions into legal practice by means of a regulation.
Recently, he announced that “a several-person team of prosecutors is to be established at the District Prosecutor’s Office Warsaw-Praga to handle the most important investigations concerning hate speech.” He added that “the prosecution of this type of offense is to be handled by teams of prosecutors in 16 specialized prosecutor’s offices.”