- Hungarian government grants asylum to former Polish deputy justice minister Marcin Romanowski
- A court in Warsaw issued an arrest warrant for Mr Romanowski on Thursday
- Romanowski is accused of 11 offences
Hungarian government grants asylum to former Polish deputy justice minister Marcin Romanowski
Marcin Romanowski is wanted on criminal charges, Romanowski's lawyer announced.
The lawyer, Bartosz Lewandowski, announced on Thursday on the social network X, adding that Hungary had granted asylum to his client because of "the actions of the Polish government and the National Prosecutor's Office, which is subordinate to it, which violate his rights and freedom".
A court in Warsaw issued an arrest warrant for Mr Romanowski on Thursday
The lawyer said that the material submitted to the Hungarian authorities "directly testifies" that Polish law enforcement services are "involved in the persecution of members of opposition parties". Mr Romanowski's request states that he "cannot expect a fair trial in Poland because of the political involvement of some judges", the lawyer said.
Earlier, Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk said that if Budapest took "any bizarre decisions that contradict European law, such as granting political asylum or ignoring the European arrest warrant", Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban would be in a "risky situation".
As Deputy Minister of Justice in the Law and Justice (PiS) government, Mr Romanowski was in charge of the Justice Fund to help victims of crime. The 48-year-old replaced the controversial former Minister of Justice Zbigniew Ziobro.
According to Polish media reports and comments by the former fund director, millions of euros were channeled into projects that Ziobro hoped would be politically beneficial for his PiS-affiliated party, Suvereni Polska.
Romanowski is accused of 11 offences
Prosecutors accuse Mr. Romanowski of 11 criminal offenses, of being part of an organized criminal group and of having defrauded 107 million zlotys (€25 million), and of having attempted to defraud a further 58 million zlotys (€13.56 million) from selected bidders through contracts financed by the Justice Fund.
Gergely Gulyas, Head of the Hungarian Prime Minister's Office, confirmed that Mr Romanowski had been granted political asylum.
Polish Foreign Minister Radoslaw Sikorski said that he considered this decision by the Orban government as "an act unfriendly to Poland and contrary to the principles of the European Union".
V. Orban, in an interview published on Thursday by the local online publication mandiner.hu, when asked whether Hungary would accept political refugees from Poland, replied: "We offer asylum to all those who face political persecution in their countries".
Earlier, the Polish daily Gazeta Wyborcza reported that Mr Romanowski may be hiding in Hungary.
Based on ELTA reports
