Warsaw revokes passport of ex-judge who defected to Belarus

October 10, Pozirk. Authorities in Poland’s Masovian Voivodeship have granted a request by the National Public Prosecutor’s Office to revoke the passport of former Polish Judge Tomasz Szmydt, who defected to Belarus in May, Onet reported, citing information obtained by Gazeta Wyborcza.
The move significantly limits Szmydt’s ability to travel unless Minsk issues him a Belarusian passport, the report said.
Szmydt claimed that he was forced to leave Poland because of disagreement with the government’s policy. He also said that he “was persecuted and threatened for his independent political position.”
In 2019, he and his wife were reportedly involved in a smear campaign targeting judges who opposed judicial reforms by the Law and Justice (PiS) government that was in power in Poland at that time.
Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk said that Belarusian secret services had recruited Szmydt a long time ago.

European arrest warrant issued for Polish judge who defected to Belarus
- Politics
- PoliticsBelarus adds 23 to extremist listThe material is available only to POZIRK+
- PoliticsLithuania temporarily reinstates protection for CichanoŭskajaThe material is available only to POZIRK+
- Politics, SecurityLithuania designates 26 airspace areas for potential flight restrictionsThe material is available only to POZIRK+
- Politics, SocietySupreme Court finds man who died in 1997 guilty of genocideThe material is available only to POZIRK+
- Politics“Our goal is to make the European perspective realistic,” Cichanoŭskaja tells envoysThe material is available only to POZIRK+
- PoliticsUCP leader Kazłoŭ leaves BelarusThe material is available only to POZIRK+
- Economy, SocietyBelarus’ high prison population adversely impacts demographics, economist warnsThe material is available only to POZIRK+
- Politics, SocietyBelarusian community in Poland exceeds 145,000The material is available only to POZIRK+
- Economy
- PoliticsKyiv uncovers Ukrainian conscripts’ escape route to BelarusThe material is available only to POZIRK+
- PoliticsCardinal Gugerotti to visit Belarus next weekThe material is available only to POZIRK+
- EconomyBiełstat: industrial inventories up 36 percent in January-SeptemberThe material is available only to POZIRK+
- Politics
- PoliticsŁatuška praises OSCE fact-finding mechanism for exposing transnational repressionThe material is available only to POZIRK+
- Politics
- PoliticsReprisals: new political prisoner designations, censorship, special probeThe material is available only to POZIRK+
- Politics, SecurityNumber of Belarusian asylum applicants in Poland rises tenfold in four yearsThe material is available only to POZIRK+
- EconomyGDP grows by 1.6 percent in Q1–3, Biełstat saysThe material is available only to POZIRK+
- EconomyFarmers to get paid higher bonuses in first two years of employment after graduationThe material is available only to POZIRK+