A Polish priest due to have been released from jail after having been detained since March on charges of fraud will remain in custody for a further three months, a Warsaw court has ruled.
Father Michał Olszewski, who is alleged to have participated in defrauding Poland’s Justice Fund, was to due to be released from prison at the end of August.
Yet, despite there reportedly being no further evidence offered, the Warsaw court on August 28 bowed to an appeal by prosecutors and ruled that he will be detained for another three months.
Details of the court hearing are not available as it was not open to the public.
Father Olszewski was originally detained after being accused of being part of an organised criminal gang, a district court decided. After an appeal by the priest’s lawyers to the Appeal Court, that court had set a time limit for his detention of August 31.
His incarceration became controversial following claims that he had been mistreated during his detention.
Polish portal wPolityce.pl published letters sent by Father Olszewski from his cell alleging that, while being taken to prison, he was publicly humiliated at a petrol station by being “paraded” in handcuffs to the lavatory.
The priest claimed he was subsequently denied food for almost 60 hours while in custody, was forced to beg for water and was ordered to urinate in a bottle when he requested to use the toilet.
He added that his sleep schedule in custody was disrupted by bright lights being shone at him at hourly intervals throughout the night and that he had been told that he was under special surveillance.
The Warsaw court’s decision on August 28 effectively overturned the Appeal Court decision to free him on August 31.
Krzysztof Wąsowski, Father Olszewski’ attorney, told Brussels Signal that the court had simply given in to prosecutors without justifying its decision.
“One could see in the courtroom that Justice Magdalena Wójcik could not justify her decision. She just said she accepts the prosecutor’s case and that she will justify her decision in writing within a week,” Wąsowski claimed.
He said his client would be appealing the decision to keep him in jail back in the Appeal Court.
“Since there is no new evidence and the judge will simply put the prosecutors case as her justification for her action it is hard to see why the Appeals Court would overturn its previous decision that Father Olszewski need not be detained beyond the end of August,” Wąsowski stated.
He further revealed that the Appeal Court, when setting the date for Father OIszewski ‘s release, had clearly stated that “it sees no reason why the accused should be isolated before being tried”.
Michał Skwarzyński, an attorney who has represented Father Olszewski in court, told independent broadcaster TV Republika that the way the case was being handled was a scandal.
“The prosecutor himself said it today; there is no new material. Yet, despite this, the court has extended the detention. This is absolutely unacceptable in a rule-of-law State. We are dealing with a politically ordered case,” said Skwarzyński on August 28.
“This is a scandal. It shows that we live in a State where the rule of law does not function. In a country where human rights and citizen’s rights are being violated,” he added.
Poland has frequently been criticised by human rights watchdogs such as the Helsinki Committee and Amnesty International over the fact that prosecutors and courts have detained many people for considerable lengths of time before they are charged. That is often based on debatable grounds that to set them free would enable the suspects to obstruct the course of justice.
Wąsowski said he believed that this case was testimony to those criticisms being accurate. “Detention should not serve as punishment and should only be used when public security in danger or perversion of the course of justice could take place.
“Detaining someone in order to pressurise him to admit his guilt is unacceptable when all the evidence has been collected months ago and there is no more to be gathered,” he said.
Conservative PiS opposition MP Marek Ast told portal Niezależna.pl that the Warsaw court’s behaviour in this case was “reminiscent of practices seen in Belarus, suggesting a politically motivated trial conducted outside the norms of law and international standards”, adding that European institutions such as the European Court of Human Rights should intervene.
The case against Father Olszewski comes alongside those targeting civil servants in the ministry of justice in the previous PiS government alleging misappropriation of public funds for political purposes, including illicit financing of election campaigns.
The PiS has refuted the allegations, arguing that all decisions were taken in accordance with legal regulations. It claimed that the current government was pursuing a political vendetta against officials from the previous administration.
When in opposition, now-Prime Minister Donald Tusk’s Civic Coalition (KO) party had criticised the Catholic Church for what he said was it being too close to then-ruling PiS.
Since coming to power, Tusk’s attorney and KO MP Roman Giertych has indicated that the ruling party would be aiming to close down Catholic media hostile to the government, such as Radio Maryja.
