The Hungarian parliament has passed new legislation to protect former Polish deputy justice minister Marcin Romanowski, who was granted asylum in Hungary in December, from being extradited to Poland, the Hungarian weekly HVG reported on Monday.
As the weekly noted, in mid-March the parliament introduced amendments to the act on cooperation in criminal cases with EU member states. The new provisions give the prosecutor general the possibility of appealing a potential court decision to hand Romanowski over to the Polish side.
Then the Curia, Hungary's highest court, could overturn the lower court's decision to extradite the politician wanted in Poland.
According to HVG, the Hungarian Ministry of Justice did not hide the real goals of the adopted changes. “This step was necessary to regulate the possibility of effective action against possible unlawful court decisions,” it was written in the ministerial justification, quoted by the weekly.
As noted by HVG, the police should arrest Romanowski, who is staying in Budapest, and bring him to the court which will decide on the possible execution of the European Arrest Warrant (EAW).
However, since December, Romanowski has not been pursued by the police at all, although it is known that he was in the Hungarian capital, meeting with ministers of Viktor Orban's government.
The Budapest Metropolitan Court announced last week that the former deputy minister of justice is not being prosecuted, HVG noted.
“Hungary is taking a big risk by trying to circumvent EU law in a case that has already caused an international scandal,” the weekly concluded.
Polish prosecutors accuse Romanowski of committing 11 crimes, including participation in an organized criminal group and rigging competitions for money from the Justice Fund. Romanowski and PiS politicians believe that the investigation into the Justice Fund is “political revenge using the prosecutor's office.” (PAP)
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