Maverick MEP Korwin-Mikke has immunity revoked
PR dla Zagranicy
Nick Hodge
19.05.2015 16:50
Maverick MEP and former Polish presidential candidate Janusz Korwin-Mikke has had his immunity lifted by the European Parliament, following pressure from Warsaw.
Janusz Korwin-Mikke. Photo: wikicommons/Ryszard Hołubowicz
The Warsaw District Prosecutor's Office had petitioned the European Parliament to act in connection with a July 2014 incident when Korwin-Mikke allegedly slapped fellow Polish MEP Michał Boni in the face.
At the time, the alleged slapper said he had been made a fool of by Boni in a 1992 TV debate, when the latter, a former Solidarity activist, denied having been a communist informant during the 1980s.
Although Boni continues to uphold that he was not a practising informant, in 2007 he admitted that he had signed documents in 1985 agreeing to cooperate with the secret services.
Boni, who served as minister of administration and digitization from 2011 to 2013 under then prime minister Donald Tusk, said that he was blackmailed into signing after the communist agents threatened to reveal details of an extra-marital affair.
Following the 2014 slapping incident, Boni described what had happened on his Twitter profile.
“I said hello to MEP Korwin-Mikke and he hit me in the face. This is abnormal!!”
A majority of MEPs voted in favour of having Korwin-Mikke's immunity dropped, meaning he could now be tried in Poland.
The self-styled libertarian has sparked controversy several times at the European Parliament, on one occasion using the word 'nigger' in a speech. (nh)
Source: PAP/IAR