Father Michał Olszewski, who since March has been held in detention on corruption charges relating to the actions of the previous Conservative (PiS) government,, is to be released from prison by November 15 on bail of €75,000.
The funds for Olszewski’s bail have already been offered by former PiS prime minister Mateusz Morawiecki and PiS MEP Daniej Obajtek, a former CEO of fuel giant Orlen.
The Court of Appeal in Warsaw on October 24 decided to release Olszewski and two former employees of the Ministry of Justice once bail of €75,000 each has been paid. The decision overturned one taken by the district court in Warsaw, which had. decided to prolong their detention until the end of the year
The three prisoners have been held since March as part of an investigation into alleged corruption in the administration of the Justice Fund for Victims of Crime. The central allegation is that funds received by Olszewski’s Profeto Foundation were misappropriated for political purposes as part of the misappropriation of funds at the ministry estimated to be of the order of approximately €25 million. The charges include money laundering and participating in an organised crime group.
Once bail is put up, the released prisoners will not be able to leave the country and will be obliged to report to the police twice a week. They will be forbidden to contact each other or individuals named by the prosecutors as witnesses in a future trial.
Speaking to reporters after the court bail hearing, Olszewski’s attorney Krzysztof Wąsowski said the appeal court’s decision was a “breakthrough which has restored the defence’s confidence in due legal process ”. He added that the “court saw no basis for continuing the prisoners’ isolation” as “the investigation has been completed and they can be released pending trial”.
But Wąsowski could not rule out that the public prosecutors may file new charges and another bout of detention. He also confirmed that, despite the appeal court’s decision being favourable to Olszewski, his lawyers would still be filing the case of his detention with the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR).
Olszewski’s legal team made public allegations of mistreatment during his arrest in March. The priest was allegedly denied food and water for a day and while being transported to prison he was humiliated by being paraded in handcuffs at a petrol station during a break in the journey.
One of his legal team, Michał Skwarzyński, told independent TV wPolsce24 that “the length of this detention is indicative of the state abusing its power”. He added that he was not surprised the public prosecutors were taking such a long time to produce the final indictments that will go to trial because “it will take some doing to persuade anyone that Father Olszewski was a thief, that he laundered funds and was active in an organised crime group”.
The case involving Olszewski is one of several that have been brought against PiS and its allies by public prosecutors following the present government’s promise that it would pursue all wrong-doing under the previous administration.
But the direction the prosecution service has been taking by the Prime Minister Donald Tusk-led government has been questioned by both the Supreme Court and the Constitutional Court. That was due to the fact that the dismissal and appointment of the head of the service was carried out without the legally required approval by President Andrzej Duda.
The Tusk government does not recognise the legitimacy of many of the judges in both these courts as they were recommended by the National Judicial Council, the members of which the government has alleged were appointed in an unconstitutional manner by the previous administration.
