Interpol has rejected the leftist-liberal Polish government’s bid to get an international arrest warrant for exiled opposition politician Marcin Romanowski.
The police organisation declined to issue a so-called red notice—in theory an international arrest warrant—for the politician, who fled Poland and sought refuge in Hungary last year. Interpol refused to add Romanowski to its list of most-wanted criminals.
Despite both Hungary and Poland being a member of the European Union, the conservative government of Hungary granted political asylum to Romanowski, stating that “the judicial independence and rights of opposition figures in Poland are under threat.”
Romanowski, a minister of the former conservative Polish government led by the Law and Justice (PiS) party, was arrested last July for allegedly misusing public funds during his time as a government official.
He is not the first PiS politician to be persecuted by the current, Donald Tusk-led government.
According to opposition MP Marcin Warchoł, the fact that Interpol refused to issue an arrest warrant against Romanowsk suggests that they, too, regard his pursuit as politically motivated.
