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Poland’s opposition leader has escalated a dispute over two convicted lawmakers from his Law and Justice (PiS) party by threatening legal action to demonstrate that Prime Minister Donald Tusk ordered them to be tortured while in prison.
Jarosław Kaczyński said on Thursday that his party “would appeal to the EU to accuse the Polish authorities of using torture”. He added: “I am convinced that this is Tusk’s personal decision and he should be held personally responsible for torture in Poland.”
Kaczyński was speaking outside the main chamber of parliament amid heightened tensions over the whereabouts of former interior minister Mariusz Kamiński and his then deputy Maciej Wąsik who were released from prison after receiving a fresh pardon from President Andrzej Duda earlier this week.
Poland’s institutional feuding and the deepening polarisation of the country have led some commentators to warn that it could face something similar to the storming of the US capitol in January 2021, after Donald Trump disputed losing the presidential election.
Police in Warsaw reinforced security around parliament on Thursday following reports that the two were preparing to reclaim their seats by force, after a court ruling in December for abuse of power stripped them of their parliamentary mandates.
To help defuse tensions, the committee in charge of parliamentary proceedings ordered that the lawmakers should be allowed in as visitors.
On Wednesday, Tusk warned that Kamiński and Wąsik could face fresh prosecution even after being pardoned by the president a second time, possibly over their role in deploying the Pegasus spyware in Poland during the years when they ran the country’s anti-corruption bureau.
Kaczyński claimed on Thursday that they were “in very poor health as a result of the crimes that were committed against them while in prison”, suggesting that was why he was speaking on their behalf.
The PiS leader went on to question the legitimacy of the Tusk government, calling for a “transition period” and fresh elections. “We have an emergency situation, the constitution is practically no longer valid. Therefore, various methods can be used.”
Duda, who is PiS nominee, has so far sided with the opposition and Kaczyński in his feud with Tusk, which goes back over two decades. The PiS leader has repeatedly accused the premier of being both “a German agent” and helping the Kremlin kill his twin brother Lech, who was then president and died in a plane crash in 2010 in Russia, when Tusk was prime minister.
But despite the PiS accusations on Thursday, it was not immediately clear how Tusk’s government could be ousted within the democratic framework. His centre-right coalition holds a majority in both houses of parliament after winning October’s election with a record turnout.
The premier has vowed to push ahead with his reforms and the dismantling of the state apparatus built by PiS during its eight years in power. He is also counting on support from Brussels, which has welcomed the return to office in Warsaw of a pro-European politician. Before winning last year’s election, Tusk, a former prime minister, had led the opposition after returning from Brussels where he served as president of the European Council.
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