2023-11-16 00:42:55
The European Parliament has decided to revoke the immunity of four parliamentarians for a like on Twitter, the message – according to the EU would have constituted “incitement to hatred” against migrants.
The four parliamentarians in question are Polish deputies belonging to the ECR group of the PiS (Law and Justice) party. As I said, the controversy arose from a “like” on a 2018 PiS election campaign video, which was interpreted as anti-immigration hate speech.
This election advert, which highlighted concerns about the relocation of illegal migrants to Poland, it obtained numerous “likes” and shares from these politicians. According to critics, including left-wing activist Rafal Gawel, founder of the “Center for monitoring racist and xenophobic behavior” and now living in Norway, these “likes” and shares would constitute hate speech.
Although the charges were initially rejected by Polish justice, Warsaw judge Edyta Snastin-Jurkun, member of the judges’ association “Iustitia”, has made a request to the European Parliament to lift her immunity. The European Parliament’s French rapporteur on the Legal Affairs Committee, Gilles Lebreton, argued that sharing election material on social media is a common practice and linked to parliamentary duties. However, the Legal Affairs Committee voted in favor of waiving immunity.
This decision marks a historic precedent: for the first time, European parliamentarians risk up to three years in prison for a “like” on the Internet. The situation becomes further complicated with the arrival at the European Parliament of another Polish parliamentarian, Wlodzimierz Karpinski, currently under house arrest for corruption.
The scenario highlights the complex political dynamic within the European Parliament, where questions of political correctness and allegations of corruption raise questions about equal treatment between MEPs of different political affiliations.
The dictatorship of political correctness has no limits: in the European Parliament lifting of immunity for a ‘Like’ on Twitter
The European Parliament has voted to lift the immunity of four members of Poland’s conservative Law and Justice (PiS) party. The MEPs in question are Beata Kempa, Beata Mazurek, Patryk Jaki and Tomasz Poreba. In Poland they are accused of violating hate crime laws through an election advert that warned of the dangers of allowing immigrants into the country. This is a decision referring to the anti-Muslim migration campaign supported during a municipal election campaign in 2018.
The French publication Media Presse reports that one of the MPs under investigation Kempa said:
“This is a dangerous precedent, because an election announcement made for the election campaign and approved by the National Election Commission, presented via social media, would suddenly become the basis for accusations against Polish politicians. »
Media Presse he comments like this:
They are accused of inciting hatred because they retweeted or “liked” their party’s election advertisement
But the most shocking thing is that the accusations against the parliamentarians were made by Rafal Gawel, a left-wing activist, founder of the “Center for Monitoring Racist and Xenophobic Behavior” convicted in Poland for fraud, extortion, embezzlement of his organization’s funds and wanted by the police, who he now resides in Norway.
Already in November 2021, Gawel presented his charges against the politicians to the Polish prosecutor’s office. The prosecution has twice rejected as unfounded the accusations of “committing racist crimes in Poland” by “liking” or retweeting a PiS election ad. Unfortunately, the judge of the Warsaw court, Edyta Snastin-Jurkun, a member of the judges’ association “Iustitia”, presented a request for the waiver of immunity to the European Parliament.
Gilles Lebreton, French, rapporteur of the European Parliament in the Committee on Legal Affairs, whose task is to express opinions on such requests, clearly stated that the submission of the request for waiver of immunity is a political action and aims to attack the Member Kempa. In his draft report, Lebreton explains:
“The fact that a member of parliament shares or republishes an election advert from his political party on social media is an activity inextricably linked to his parliamentary functions, especially if the content of the advert is linked – as is the case in question – to immigration, which is a frequent topic of debate in the European Parliament.
It is the first case in history in which European parliamentarians risk up to three years in prison for a “like” on the Internet
The French judge specifies that behind the case lies the Polish judge’s intention to hit Kempa:
“The case seems to indicate the existence of fumus persecuzionis, i.e. ‘concrete evidence’ indicating that the aforementioned legal proceedings were initiated with the intention of damaging the political activities of the Member, including her activities as a Member of the European Parliament. »
But despite Lebreton’s negative opinion, the Legal Affairs Committee voted in favor of the proposal and the European Parliament lifted the immunity of the four parliamentarians. (end quote)
The consequences will be worrying for us all. prosecutability of crimes of opinion, if these are judged as hate crimes.
This appears to be clearly not the bright day so vaunted by EU bureaucrats.
^^^^^
Other sources:
#parliamentarians #risk #prison #Twitter