Tomasz Szmydt
MINSK, 9 May (BelTA) – The escape of the Polish judge is a punch in the gut of the Polish government. Belarus President Aleksandr Lukashenko made the statement in front of reporters after taking part in Victory Day festivities in Pobedy Square on 9 May, BelTA has learned.
Aleksandr Lukashenko said: “It is a trend [when officials flee Poland]. Some say that we and Russians recruit such people, that these people are our agents, are our employees. Total nonsense! I saw this person only when he was hosting a press conference. He is an absolutely normal person.”
The head of state said that the KGB had informed him about the situation the day before the press conference. The president gave instructions to verify the story of this Polish citizen. “They checked it. He is an absolutely normal and patriotic Pole. Colleagues have said nothing bad about him. But it is a punch in the gut of Polish authorities. So they have started calling him a traitor and what not. He is no traitor. But he really looks at things and compares Poland and Belarus and makes conclusions,” Aleksandr Lukashenko noted. “We’ve warned him: you can call a press conference and the rest. But they killed Czeczko. Watch out. You lay yourself open to attack. ‘I am not afraid. I have to tell the truth about what is going on in Poland’. And it caused a very public outcry.”
The head of state said that even his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin had asked him about this story.
“I mean everyone has noticed it. A punch in the gut. This is why they have to say something. This is why they say we’d recruited him. Listen, total nonsense. If we recruited him, prove it with facts. Everything is simple: present the facts to the world community and primarily to your own people,” the president added.
Aleksandr Lukashenko pointed out that Poland, Lithuania, and Latvia restrict passage across the Belarusian border, do not let people enter Belarus, scare their citizens with stories that they may be caught and recruited in Belarus.
“This is such nonsense. Does any one of you believe it? Who grabs people at the border to recruit them? If we need to recruit someone, it is totally not a problem today. And we don’t even need to pay them: there are plenty of idea-driven people, who will inform us. And then again: if these people are our agents, we need them over there, not here. This is why these are lies, falsehoods. But they had to respond in a hurry without sorting it out and without even thinking about how to respond to it,” he added.
BelTA reported earlier that the other day the Polish dissident, judge Tomasz Szmydt requested protection from Belarusian authorities. “I’d like to address President Aleksandr Lukashenko directly,” Tomasz Szmydt said. “I beg your pardon for being bold but I’d like to ask for custody, security from the president and from Belarus as a whole.”
Tomasz Szmydt is a judge of the 2nd Department of the Voivodeship Administrative Court in Warsaw. In the past he held various positions in the judicial system and justice bodies of Poland. He was the head of the legal department at the National Council of Judges of Poland.
Due to his disagreement with the policies and actions of the government he was forced to leave Poland and is currently in Belarus. He was persecuted and threatened for his independent political position.
