Former Polish deputy minister released after immunity dispute

17/7/2024 18:45

        A former Polish deputy justice minister who was detained in a probe into the misuse of public funds was released late on Tuesday after the president of a European rights assembly said he had immunity as a member of the body.
        
        The pro-European government of Donald Tusk says it has opened the way for prosecutors to investigate wrongdoing under the previous administration that would previously have been covered up, but the Warsaw court's decision to free Marcin Romanowski marks a setback for these efforts.
        
        Opposition lawmakers including Romanowski have accused the government of engaging in a politically motivated witchhunt.
        
        Poland's parliament stripped Romanowski of his immunity as a lawmaker on Friday. His lawyer argued that he was also protected by immunity resulting from his membership of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe in Strasbourg.
        
        Prosecutors dismissed this argument. However, the president of the assembly, Theodoros Rousopoulos, sent a letter on Tuesday to Parliament Speaker Szymon Holownia in which he said that Romanowski was covered by immunity as a member and that judicial proceedings against him should be suspended.