Headline

Legal Chaos In Poland As President, New Govt Clash

Published

2 years ago

January 15, 2024

A standoff between Poland’s new pro-European government and its nationalist president, who is allied with the previous populist ruling party, is creating legal chaos and political instability.

During eight years of rule by the Law and Justice (PiS) party, Warsaw was at odds with Brussels over judicial reforms which the government said were needed to combat corruption.

The EU said the reforms undermined democratic freedoms and the rule of law in Poland and had blocked billions of euros in recovery funds.

“The institutions of the rule of law have been violated in Poland with the help of the president and the new government is now trying to re-establish them,” Marcin Zaborowski, an expert from the Globsec think tank, told AFP.

The new pro-European coalition headed up by former EU chief Donald Tusk, which came to power in December, has promised to restore rule of law.

Tusk has accused Duda, whose mandate only runs out in 2025, of being the “author of this constitutional and legal confusion”.

While the head of state’s responsibilities are relatively limited in Poland, Duda still has veto power on legislation which the new government is not in a position to overrule.

– ‘Legal dualism’ –

Duda is supported by Law and Justice, which is still a powerful force despite its electoral defeat in October as it has influence over institutions such as the Constitutional Court.

Tensions have been rising ever since the new coalition took power and embarked on major reforms of the judiciary and public media.

The refusal of the previous ruling party to accept a series of new nominations to key institutions has created a confusing situation.

“There is a de facto legal dualism,” Zaborowski said.

Wagner mercenaries train Belarus special forces near Polish border
“Within the Supreme Court, there is one chamber that says the president is right and another that says he is wrong,” he added.

The latest confrontation has been over two former Law and Justice MPs who have been jailed for a case dating back to 2007.

Mariusz Kaminski, a former interior minister, and his colleague Maciej Wasik were arrested last week in the presidential palace where they had been invited by the president.

“This is an unprecedented situation for a democratic country when the president gives refuge to two people who have been convicted by a court,” said Stanislaw Mocek, head of the Collegium Civitas university in Warsaw.

In 2015, the two men were sentenced to prison terms for making false accusations against a leading political figure when they were in charge of the anti-corruption agency.

They then both received a presidential pardon, which was questioned by the Supreme Court.

The Constitutional Court has since rejected the verdict of the Supreme Court, authorising the president to say his pardon was still in force.

– ‘Fuel to the fire’ –

The two were elected to parliament in October but have since had their convictions confirmed on appeal and their parliamentary mandates cancelled.

Now under arrest, they have begun hunger strikes and Duda has launched another pardon procedure.

“The president is adding fuel to the fire, while claiming that he wants to find a compromise. Only one compromise is possible — the rule of law,” Mocek said.

In the furore that ensued, Duda has spoken out against the “terror of the so-called rule of law” while Tusk has called it “a basic principle” that needs to be followed.

The stage is set for a prolonged confrontation that observers say could well last until the end of Duda’s mandate.

“The new government has already shown that it will not pull back from reforms while the president has shown that he will not hesitate to veto them,” Zaborowski said.

Headline

UK Police Arrest Asylum Seeker Sex Offender Mistakenly Freed

Published

6 hours ago

October 26, 2025

Editor

The UK police on Sunday arrested an Ethiopian asylum seeker and convicted sex offender, whose crimes had sparked anti-immigration protests, after he was accidentally released from prison in an embarrassing blunder by British authorities.

London’s Metropolitan Police said officers arrested Hadush Kebatu in the north of the capital on Sunday morning, nearly 48 hours after he was mistakenly freed around 30 miles (48 kilometres) away.

Kebatu, 38, had served the first month of a one-year sentence for sexually assaulting a teenage girl and a woman, but was reportedly due to be deported when the Prison Service error occurred on Friday.

His high-profile case earlier this year in Epping, northeast of London, sparked demonstrations in various English towns and cities where asylum seekers were believed to be housed, as well as counter-protests.

Commander James Conway, who oversaw the manhunt for him, said “information from the public” led officers to the Finsbury Park neighbourhood of London, where he was found.

“He was detained by police but will be returned to the custody of the Prison Service,” he added.

Kebatu is now expected to be deported.

Prime Minister Keir Starmer said Friday he was “appalled” by the “totally unacceptable” mistake that saw him freed rather than sent to an immigration detention centre.

The Telegraph newspaper said he was wrongly categorised for release on licence and handed a £76 ($101) discharge grant.

Police had appealed Saturday for Kebatu to turn himself in, after reports emerged that he had appeared confused and reluctant to leave the prison in Chelmsford, eastern England.

A delivery driver described seeing Kebatu return several times in a “very confused” state, only to be turned away by staff and directed to the railway station.

The driver told Sky News he saw Kebatu outside the jail, asking, “Where am I going? What am I doing?”

“He was starting to get upset, he was getting stressed,” the driver said.

The father of Kebatu’s anonymous teenage victim told the broadcaster that “the justice system has let us down.”

Police arrested the asylum seeker in July after he repeatedly tried to kiss a 14-year-old girl and touch her legs, and made sexually explicit comments to her.

He also sexually assaulted an adult woman, placing a hand on her thigh, when she intervened to stop his interactions with the girl.

He was staying at the time at Epping’s Bell Hotel, where scores of other asylum seekers have been accommodated, and which became the target of repeated protests.

AFP

Headline

Madagascar Revokes Ousted President’s Nationality

Published

7 hours ago

October 26, 2025

Editor

Madagascar’s new government has stripped ousted president Andry Rajoelina of his Malagasy nationality in a decree published Friday, 10 days after he was removed in a military takeover.

According to AFP, the decree means that Rajoelina, who was impeached on October 14 after fleeing the island nation in the wake of weeks of protests, would not be able to contest future election.

The decree published in the official gazette said Rajoelina’s Malagasy nationality was revoked because he had acquired French nationality in 2014, local media reported, as photographs of the document were shared online.

French broadcaster RFI said it had confirmed the decree with the entourage of the new prime minister, Herintsalama Rajaonarivelo, who signed the order.

The decree cited laws stipulating that a Malagasy who voluntarily acquires a foreign nationality loses their Malagasy nationality.

Rajoelina’s French nationality caused a scandal when it was revealed ahead of the November 2023 elections, nearly 10 years after it was granted.

It triggered calls for him to be disqualified but he went on to win the contested polls, which were boycotted by opposition parties.

The 51-year-old politician fled Madagascar after army Colonel Michael Randrianirina said on October 11 his CAPSAT unit would refuse orders to put down the youth-led protest movement, which security forces had attempted to suppress with violence.

Rajoelina said later he was in hiding for his safety, but did not say where.

Randrianirina was sworn in as president on October 14, pledging elections within two years.

Headline

Kamala Harris Hints At Running For President Again

Published

7 hours ago

October 26, 2025

Editor

Former US vice president Kamala Harris said in a British television interview previewed in Saturday that she may “possibly” run again to be president.

Harris, who replaced Joe Biden as the 2024 Democratic presidential candidate but lost to Donald Trump, told the BBC that she had not yet decided whether to make another White House bid.

But the 61-year-old insisted she was “not done” in American politics and that her young grandnieces would see a female president in the Oval Office “in their lifetime, for sure”.

“I have lived my entire career a life of service, and it’s in my bones, and there are many ways to serve.

“I’ve not decided yet what I will do in the future, beyond what I am doing right now,” Harris told the British broadcaster in an interview set to air in full on Sunday.

The comments are the strongest hint yet that Harris could attempt to be the Democratic Party nominee for the 2028 election.

The interview follows the release of her memoir last month, in which she argued it had been “recklessness” to let Biden run for a second term as president.

She also accused his White House team of failing to support her while she was his deputy, and at times of actively hindering her.

AFP