Poland investigates judge who has fled to Belarus

May 8, Pozirk. Poland’s National Public Prosecutor’s Office has launched an investigation into Judge Tomasz Szmydt, who has fled to Belarus, PAP reported citing spokesman Przemysław Nowak.

Szmydt is suspected of involvement in foreign intelligence activities, he said. The charge carries a sentence of at least three years in prison.

The purpose of the investigation is to clarify all the circumstances of Szmydt’s possible cooperation with foreign intelligence services, including the scope of information disclosed.

Among other things, investigators will “analyze the judge’s financial, personal and professional situation,” Nowak said.

On May 6, a Telegram channel set up three days earlier in the name of Tomasz Szmydt, a judge of the Provincial Administrative Court in Warsaw, announced that he had “unofficially” applied for political asylum in Belarus.

According to the message, Szmydt was forced to leave Poland because of disagreement with the government’s policy. He claimed that he “was persecuted and threatened for his independent political position.”

The Pole asked Alaksandar Łukašenka for protection and signed his resignation at a press conference hosted by BelTA, a state-run news agency in Minsk.

On May 7, Szmydt told TASS in an interview that Poland would seek his extradition in connection with the ongoing checks, including on suspicion of espionage.

Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk said that Belarusian secret services worked much longer than “a few months” to recruit Tomasz Szmydt.

Also read: Tusk accuses Belarus’ secret service of recruiting defected judge