The documents have been served; Currently, the decision on whether Mariusz Kamiński and Maciej Wąsik will serve sentences lies in the hands of the Attorney General. I appeal for a decision as soon as possible, said Małgorzata Paprocka, Minister in the President’s Chancellery.
Paprocka was asked on Republika TV whether the procedure for pardoning convicted PiS politicians: Mariusz Kamiński and Maciej Wąsik, initiated by President Andrzej Duda on Thursday, is a new procedure compared to the one first carried out in 2015.
In response, Paprocka emphasized that President Duda “still believes” that the procedure for pardoning both politicians in 2015 was correct.
However, it is impossible to abstract from the actual situation
– she said, pointing, among other things: for Tuesday’s arrest and extradition of convicted politicians to prisons.
Today the president decided to start a pardon procedure; the files were sent to the correct entity, the Attorney General. This is a procedure in accordance with art. 139 of the Constitution, which talks about the law of pardon, but also the provisions of the Code of Criminal Procedure; this is the classic way of leniency
– said Paprocka.
As she added, President Duda also sent an official letter to the Attorney General, the head of the Ministry of Justice, Adam Bodnar, informing about the start of the pardon proceedings, but – as she said – he also noted ‘ that he expects the Attorney General to immediately make use of the standard of art. 568 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, which states that the Attorney General can order a suspension of the sentence. The minister emphasized that the relevant documents had already been delivered to the public prosecutor’s office.
Paprocka emphasized that the decision to stop imposing the sentence is currently the responsibility of the Attorney General and reiterated the President’s previous call for Bodnar to stop imposing the sentence on Wąsik and Kamiński as soon as possible.
The Minister also noted that the regulations do not specify the period within which the Attorney General must make a decision and drew attention to the specific circumstances of the case.
It appears that the Attorney General cannot treat this case like any other, but such a state context makes it very unique.
– she noted.
The president announced on Thursday that he had initiated pardon proceedings against Mariusz Kamiński and Maciej Wąsik at the request of their wives. Duda emphasized that the proceedings would be conducted in “presidential mode.” He also requested the Attorney General to suspend the execution of the sentence and release the prisoners for the duration of the pardon proceedings.
Pursuant to art. 139 of the Constitution, the President of the Republic of Poland applies the right to pardon; this right does not apply to persons convicted in State Court. The Chancellery of the President points out that the constitutional concept of the right to pardon has a broader meaning than the concept of pardon, which refers to the procedure provided for in the Code of Criminal Procedure.
The case of Mariusz Kamiński and Maciej Wąsik
In March 2015, Mariusz Kamiński and Maciej Wąsik – former head of the CBA and his deputy – were unlawfully sentenced to three years in prison and banned from holding public positions for ten years for exceeding their powers in connection with the action of the CBA regarding the so-called land scandal. In the trial of the former heads of the CBA, the court ruled that Kamiński had planned and organized the CBA provocation, although there was no legal or factual basis for initiating the CBA action at the Ministry of Agriculture, headed by Vice Prime Minister Andrzej Lepper. . The illegally convicted former heads of the CBA were pardoned by President Duda in 2015.
The case came back on the docket in connection with the judgment of the Supreme Court of June 2023. The Supreme Court of the Criminal Chamber, after cassation appeals filed by assistant prosecutors, overturned the termination of the case of the former heads of the CBA, which had been filed in March 2016 by the District Court in Warsaw in connection with the right of pardon applied by the President and referred the case to the Supreme Court for reconsideration.
On December 20, 2023, the Warsaw court sentenced Kamiński and Wąsik to two years in prison. On Tuesday, police arrested Mariusz Kamiński and Maciej Wąsik, who were staying in the presidential palace at the time.
tkwl/PAP
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Source: wPolityce