Political pressure, this time on Mr Czuma

Czeslaw Ryszka

On 25 August 2011, proposing one amendment the MPs from the Civic Platform (PO) changed completely the content of the report of the parliamentary committee investigating alleged political pressure. The report was prepared by Andrzej Czuma from the Civic Platform. Instead of the thesis about the lack of political pressure the report includes the statement that there was 'political pressure' to direct the activities of the Prosecutor's Office and other services to struggle with the 'network.'
I want to remind you that on 4 August 2011, Mr Andrzej Czuma, the chairman of the parliamentary committee investigating whether in the years 2005-2007 there was any political pressure on the heads of the prosecution services and secret services, stated in his report that 'there are no grounds to confirm such a statement,' i.e., that in the years 2005-2007 there was no mechanism 'that would enable the public officials having the highest authority to exert illegal influence on prosecutors, policemen and special services.' Moreover, the chairman of the committee added that the activities of the former prime ministers: Kazimierz Marcinkiewicz and Jaroslaw Kaczynski as well as the activities of all the former commanders-in-chief of the police and the former head of the Home Security Bureau Mr Witold Marczuk 'do not suggest any reservations.' He also concluded that 'there are no grounds to formulate the consideration of fault of these people before the State Tribunal.' Neither did he find grounds to accuse the former Minister of Justice Zbigniew Ziobro of infringing law. Furthermore, the former head of the Central Anticorruption Bureau 'did not undertake any activities that can be evaluated as forcing his subordinate officials to exceed their authorities.'
After the report Andrzej Czuma, the former Minister of Justice and Public Prosecutor General in the government of Donald Tusk and the chairman of the above-mentioned committee, became almost a hero. Many people congratulated him on being politically impartial and evaluating in accordance with the truth. In one of his interviews Mr Czuma said straight that he was not going to 'take part in shooting the opposition politicians.' Such a clearly formulated stand of the chairman of the committee was a real shock and rebutted the accusations of the Civic Platform and the Democratic Left Alliance formulated by the committee investigating the circumstances of the death of Barbara Blida, which both parties accepted as their odd final report demanding the consideration of fault of the politicians of the Law and Justice Party before the State Tribunal. Furthermore, all the activities of the pro-government media and the choir of the ruling politicians accepting their opinions, who informed about the 'crimes of the Fourth Polish Republic,' illegal tapping, similar special operations of the Central Anticorruption Bureau and the Home Security Agency as well as pressure exerted on the state officials by Prime Minister Jaroslaw Kaczynski and Minister Zbigniew Ziobro were totally unsuccessful.
Andrzej Czuma must have expected that he would be severely criticised by colleagues from his party for having written the truth. Did he, however, expect that the committee would change his report completely? And this is what happened to him. Since Andrzej Czuma did not fulfil the directives of his party, for which he was punished by being placed as the sixth candidate of the election list, the party decided to 'correct his mistakes and distortions.' His colleagues from the committee investigating alleged political pressure worked out a new version of the report, which is much severe that Andrzej Czuma's report and which - as I have already mentioned - changed his conclusions completely.
Therefore, it is a complete waste of time of the activities of the committee and replacing the substantial conclusions by pure demagogy. All that Andrzej Czuma did not find investigating the activities when the Law and Justice was in power was eagerly found by Agnieszka Hanajczyk, MP, and Krzysztof Brejza, MP, for whom it was a test of what and how much they could do for their party. And as it has turned out they made their older colleague a 'madman,' the colleague whose attitude during the period of the Polish People's Republic evokes a universal respect. Thus the party has humiliated the chairman of the committee and showed its mistrust towards him. This is the plurality of views and concern for the dignity of its members that have been promoted by the propaganda of the Civic Platform.
Why does the ruling party act against its MP, the former Minister of Justice who did not see any infringement of law by the state officials when the Law and Justice Party was in power? It is said that the report of the committee is to be a 'peg' of the election campaign. If it is true this impudent 'orientation' of the report at political demand is another case - after the gambling committee chaired by Miroslaw Sekula from PO - in which the conclusions were known from the very beginning. I hope that the future, renewed Parliament will establish a committee investigating the pressure on Mr Czuma.

"Niedziela" 36/2011

Editor: Tygodnik Katolicki "Niedziela", ul. 3 Maja 12, 42-200 Czestochowa, Polska
Editor-in-chief: Fr Jaroslaw Grabowski • E-mail: redakcja@niedziela.pl