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Mark your calendars: Today we have witnessed the first major political arrest in Poland since 1989. A prominent government critic, a lawyer, has been taken into custody on dubious charges, to do with business transactions a decade ago. Police are now searching his house.
The arrest of Roman Giertych represents another blow against the rule of law in Poland. For background - I wrote about the harassment of Poland's independent judges here: https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2020/01/disturbing-campaign-against-polish-judges/605623/
Giertych was the lawyer for an Austrian businessman who accused the ruling party's leader, Jaroslaw Kaczynski, of defrauding him, and who also leaked embarassing tapes of Kaczynski talking about his business interests https://www.dw.com/en/kaczynski-tapes-reveal-murky-business-dealings-of-polands-powerful-pis-leader/a-47316459
Kaczynski has now made himself deputy prime minister, and has put himself in charge of Poland's security services, among other things. This appears to be his first big decision. Giertych was due to present more evidence embarrassing to the government in another case tomorrow.
Giertych himself believes this is happening in order to distract attention from the catastrophic condition of Polish hospitals and the sharp rise in the number of coronavirus cases https://twitter.com/GiertychRoman/status/1316723641225224192?s=20
