Jarosław Kaczyński on the asylum in Belarus of Judge Tomasz Szmydt. "All those fighting the radical revolution are responsible"

Polish Judge and member of Polish elite Tomasz Szmydt asked recently for political asylum in Belarus.

 

""All those who spoke against the radical revolution in the early 1990s" are to blame for the fact that a person such as Judge Tomasz Szmydt appeared so close to the centers of power.

 

Kaczyński was asked who was responsible for the fact that Tomasz Szmydt, the judge who is asking for asylum in Belarus today, was so close to the center of power in the Ministry of Justice headed by Zbigniew Ziobro.

 

PiS politicians distance themselves from Tomasz Szmydt

 

Szmdyt is one of the negative heroes of the so-called hate scandal in the Ministry of Justice headed by Zbigniew Ziobro. At the time the scandal broke, he was the director of the legal department of the Office of the National Council of the Judiciary. The scandal was revealed by Emilia Szmydt, Szmydt's ex-wife (at that time the spouses were going through a divorce). Emilia Szmydt, appearing online as "little Emi", was commissioned by judges, among others: from the Ministry of Justice and the National Council of the Judiciary to denigrate judges critical of the Ministry of Justice run by Sovereign Poland. Those ordering the attacks were to communicate with "little Emi" in a WhatsApp group called "Caste".

 

 

 

- If someone does not want to be a Polish citizen, they cannot be forced to do so - this is how the spokesman of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Paweł Wroński, commented on whether the Ministry of Foreign Affairs would deal with the situation of judge Tomasz Szmydt, who, being a Polish citizen, went to Belarus asking for asylum there.

 

 

 

After Szmydt escaped to Belarus, there are many indications that the judge was a collaborator of the Belarusian intelligence service. Meanwhile, as a judge of the Provincial Court of Appeal, he had access to classified information - including: to materials from proceedings regarding granting access to classified information (he dealt with appeals against decisions in such matters).

 

 

 

Politicians from the ruling camp distance themselves from Szmydt. Zbigniew Ziobro declared on May 7 on the X website that he did not know this judge. On May 8, in an interview with TVN24, Michał Wójcik, a former deputy minister of justice and former minister in Mateusz Morawiecki's government, also declared his ignorance of Szmydt. 

 

 

On Tuesday, during a meeting with journalists, Kaczyński allegedly argued that Szmydt was associated with the current ruling majority.

 

 

 

Unfortunately, neither Minister Ziobro nor I have clairvoyance, although I had nothing to do with it

 

 

 

Kaczyński, answering in the Sejm to the question who is responsible for the appearance of a person like Szmydt close to the center of power in the Ministry of Justice, replied that "all those who spoke against the radical revolution in the early 1990s, i.e. practically against the Agreement between the Center and against me".

 

 

 

To the comment that Szmydt was making a career when Zbigniew Ziobro was the Minister of Justice, Kaczyński replied that "later he was admitted elsewhere and it is known on which side he fought." This is probably a reference to the fact that in 2022, Szmydt, in a conversation with TVN24 reporter Marta Gordziewicz, revealed the behind-the-scenes of the hate scandal. He admitted that he participated in the activities of a hate group.

 

 

 

- Unfortunately, neither Minister Ziobro nor I have clairvoyance, although I had nothing to do with it. But neither is it given to me (clairvoyance). It was necessary to build completely new special services, but this was not done, added Kaczyński, who then entered the Sejm meeting room without answering further questions."