Polish President Andrzej Duda is being sued by a human rights NGO, the Centre for Monitoring of Racism and Xenophobic Behaviour (OMZRiK), for his remarks about a 2023 documentary-like film about the alleged mistreatment of asylum seekers by Polish border guards.
The film, titled Green Border, followed the situation at the Polish-Belarusian border where thousands of migrants have been stuck since Russia and Belarus began to transport them to the EU’s external borders from the Middle East in 2021, a strategy since dubbed as “hybrid warfare” and believed to be aimed at destabilizing the bloc.
Naturally, the film strongly sided with the migrants by building on the narrative of human rights NGOs at the scene who were pushing for Poland to open its borders.
Upon release, both the then-governing Law and Justice (PiS) party and President Duda criticized the film for disrespecting border guards and depicting them in a slanderous manner, especially given how dangerous their line of work can be. One young soldier was even stabbed and killed at the border just a few months ago.
“I am not surprised that the border guard officers who saw the film used the slogan ‘only pigs sit in the cinema’,” Duda said at the time. The slogan, ‘only pigs go to the cinema’ originates from the 1940s, and is associated with the civic opposition to Nazi propaganda films in occupied Poland.
OMZRiK announced that Duda’s first hearing will be held on October 24th, and promised to publically share a link to a live broadcast so that anyone can join in.
“Many said it was impossible to succeed in bringing the head of state to justice. However, we did it, despite the fact that no one before us has ever done it,” the NGO proudly posted on their social media.
According to the Constitution, the president can be tried before a Tribunal of State for offenses committed while in office, but any indictment needs a parliamentary resolution supported by at least two-thirds of the MPs and senators.
