His backers allege that he was mistreated and tortured in prison, a charge the Justice Ministry strongly denies.
“We are shocked by the information we received regarding the circumstances of the arrest and detention of Father Michael Olszewski, who is currently in temporary custody,” said PiS MP Michał Wójcik. Other MPs accused the new government of conducting “political trials” against its enemies.
Judicial reforms
Another major effort of the Tusk government is to undo PiS’s judiciary reforms — something that brought Warsaw into conflict with the European Commission, which said Poland was backsliding on the bloc’s democratic principles by undermining judicial independence.
Bodnar is working to restore the independence and impartiality of the courts.
Last week, prosecutors, counterintelligence agents and police raided the office of the National Council of the Judiciary (KRS), a judge-appointing body, to seize documents related to disciplinary proceedings filed against judges who had opposed PiS’s judiciary reforms.
That raid was denounced by pro-PiS media as an attack by the “coalition of revenge” aimed at hurting its political rivals.
Bodnar has also set up a special counsel to review the involvement of judges in the PiS-influenced judiciary council.
Meanwhile, PiS summoned its supporters to protest outside parliament on Tuesday evening.
“The violation of the rule of law is unfortunately a daily occurrence today,” the party said.
That’s the same accusation that PiS faced during its eight years in power.
