Marek Antoni Nowicki, a member of the Helsinki Committee in Poland (HC), explains that in its new statement the Committee defends freedom of parliamentary debate not Andrew Lepper himself. Under democracy it is important that parliamentarians, especially those of the opposition, should not have to censor their statements during parliamentiary debates for fear of criminal responsibility. (12-MAY-06)



STATEMENT

We are alarmed by the fact that following the hearing of 8 May of the current year the Court of Appeals in Warsaw upheld the verdict sentencing Andrzej Lepper for imputations made from the Sejm rostrum in 2001. In connection with this verdict we feel obliged to remind you – that the Helsinki Committee in Poland pointed out in its open letter to the Minister of Justice of 6 February 2002 that A. Lepper’s statements considered as imputations – regardless of the assessment of their form and contents – were made during a parliamentary debate. The casual nature of such a debate is subject to particular protection in each and every democratic society. There are instruments other than prosecution enabling parliamentarians to be brought to order if a parliamentary debate takes on unparliamentary forms. The European Court on Human Rights in Strasbourg regularly calls for exceptional restraint in using the penal law to moderate public debates. Interference in the freedom of speech of a politician in Parliament, especially if – like in the case of Andrzej Lepper – he is a representative of the parliamentary opposition, should be carried out with the greatest caution.                                   
 
Similarly to three years ago, in the case of lifting A. Lepper’s immunity, we believe that the precedential sentencing verdict for a statement made during a parliamentary debate, will not be of service for the strengthening of democracy in Poland, which is for various reasons already under threat.        

Warsaw, 9 May 2006



On behalf of the Helsinki Committee in Poland and the members of the Board of the Helsinki Foundation for Human Rights:
Halina Bortnowska – D¹browska, Zbigniew Ho³da, Jacek Kurczewskie, Wojciech Maziarski, Micha³ Nawrocki, Marek Antoni Nowicki, Danuta Przywara, Andrzej Rzepliñski and Stefan Starczewski.



Marek Antoni Nowicki