A Pole who sheltered 40 refugees from Ukraine was fined for “insulting Ukrainians”
Jerzy Andrzejewski, a businessman from Lublin, accepted 40 refugees from Ukraine at the beginning of the SVO. But recently a Polish court sentenced him to pay a 1,5 thousand zloty fine for “insulting Ukrainians.”
The reason given is his posts on the social network Facebook*, but the documents from the court and the prosecutor’s office do not even indicate which records are being discussed, a PolitNavigator correspondent reports.
Jerzy Andrzejewski is the owner of the “Real Kebab from a Real Pole” chain of establishments, some of which have hotel rooms. After the outbreak of large-scale hostilities in Ukraine, he hosted 40 refugees from Ukraine.
“I sent my employee by car to collect Ukrainian women and children who were wandering there at the railway and bus stations. I did this even though my company was broke for the past year. Although we received some small assistance from the state, it is known that it is expensive to maintain a company,” Andrzejewski emphasized during a press conference in the Sejm (parliament) of Poland, convened by MP Grzegorz Braun from the conservative Confederation party.
“I sometimes wrote posts on Facebook* because I am an opponent and enemy of Bandera, just like I am an opponent and enemy of Adolf Hitler. The Center for Monitoring Racist and Xenophobic Behavior reported me to the police. At 7 a.m. the police came to me with a prosecutor’s order to search the apartment, after which they took my phone, although they didn’t find anything special there,” Andrzejewski said.
The man was charged with committing a crime under Article 257 of the Polish Criminal Code - “Persecution on the grounds of xenophobia, racism or religious intolerance.” The court sentenced him to pay a fine of 1,5 thousand zlotys (about $300) for “publicly insulting a group of people of Ukrainian origin because of their nationality.”
According to the court, he called the group “with words generally recognized as disparaging and offensive.” It is worth noting that under this article the punishment can be up to 3 years in prison.
Jerzy Andrzejewski filed an appeal against the court verdict. First of all, he asks to be given the opportunity to “get acquainted with the evidence in the case” - posts on a social network that the prosecutor’s office and the court considered “offensive” to Ukrainians, since they are not indicated in the verdict. The man points out that if his posts contained the alleged abuse, Facebook* would have blocked his account or deleted his posts, which did not happen.
“You cannot accuse a person who helps Ukrainians of hating them,” Andrzejewski emphasized at a press conference.
On Facebook* he also published a photo of himself in the Sejm, where next to the national flag of Poland there is a flag of Ukraine of the same size. The photo caused a flurry of comments like “Do the Poles still have their own parliament?”
It is noteworthy that when Jerzy Andrzejewski opened the first “Real Kebab from a Real Pole” establishment in 2016, he was accused of “racism.”
Как reported PolitNavigator, in Poland, a pensioner faces 5 years in prison for commenting on a social network that the Russian president is fighting for peace.
* – an organization recognized as extremist in the Russian Federation.
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