Polish MP Dariusz Matecki of the opposition Conservatives (PiS) has handcuffed himself on the podium of Poland’s parliament after he waived his own parliamentary immunity.
He did so on March 5 as he faced being indicted by prosecutors from the centre-left government led by Prime Minister Donald Tusk.
The PiS MP has been accused of fake employment offences and of defrauding the public Justice Fund. He denied the charges and said they were politically motivated.
The Parliamentary Rules Committee on March 5 recommended stripping Matecki of his parliamentary immunity and approving his temporary detention. Shortly afterwards, Matecki took to the podium.
“I renounce my parliamentary immunity. This is consistent with my beliefs — an MP should not stand above any citizen,” he declared.
He has in the past argued for the removal of parliamentary immunity from the Constitution.
Matecki then accused the Tusk government of waging a political campaign to smear and repress the opposition ahead of May’s presidential election.
“Everyone knows how this show is supposed to play out, well ahead of any decision by the courts,” the PiS MP said.
“Today, [justice minister] Adam Bodnar explicitly stated that I am to be arrested during the parliamentary session. This isn’t an investigation; it’s a political execution,” Matecki declared.
He then proceeded to handcuff his two wrists together.
“You want an MP in handcuffs on television? Fine. Here’s your spectacle, you’ll have an MP in handcuffs at the parliamentary podium,” he announced.
“Let this image symbolise the direction Poland is heading. Let everyone see what the State has become under Donald Tusk’s rule,” said Matecki.
“I have a message from Poland to the free world, from a collapsing democracy. I stand before you handcuffed in the Polish parliament. I am an opposition MP. Soon, those in power will take away my freedom, for nothing!
“This isn’t justice; it’s a political attack. Tusk’s government, backed by [US] Democrats and [former US president] Joe Biden, Germany and [US philanthropist George] Soros-funded foundations, is destroying democracy, suppressing the opposition and controlling the media,” Matecki claimed.
PiS leader Jarosław Kaczyński, speaking ahead of the parliamentary session on March 5, had accused the Tusk government of making the indictment and detention of PiS politicians an election platform.
“This is simply part of the election campaign, as well as an attempt to intimidate” he said regarding the parliamentary debate on the lifting of Matecki’s immunity, his own and that of the head of the PiS parliamentary caucus Mariusz Błaszczak.
Since coming to office in December 2023, the Tusk government, in line with its election promises, has showered former and current PiS officials with indictments for alleged abuses of power.
These charges have included being members “of an organised” group and “defrauding public funds”. One of those accused, Marcin Romanowski MP, has fled to Hungary and sought political asylum there.
At the same time, the government’s prosecutors have dropped indictments against their own politicians made during the time of the previous PiS government.
Among those against whom charges have been dropped was Tusk’s family lawyer Roman Giertych MP. He had been accused of appropriation of a private company’s assets.
Former surgeon and now Speaker of the Senate, the second chamber of Poland’s parliament, Tomasz Grodzki, also had charges against him dropped after being accused of having taken bribes from patients.
Polish opposition MP handcuffs himself in parliament as he waives his immunity – Brussels Signal