Polish judge resigns for political reasons and asks for asylum in Belarus

Polish judge Tomasz Szmydt asked for a political asylum from Belarus. Speaking at a press conference in Minsk, the judge said that his actions were related to Poland's dishonest policy in relation to Belarus and Russia. Szmydt also said he was persecuted because of his position.

Photo: Собственная работа by Фрэнк Винсенц is licensed under Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported.

Tomasz Szmydt served as a judge of the 2nd Division of the Warsaw Voivodeship Administrative Court. Prior to that, he worked in the judicial system and justice authorities of Poland and chaired the legal department at the National Council of Judges of Poland.

During the press conference, he announced that he was resigning from his position and read out his resignation letter.

"My resignation is an expression of protest against the unfair and dishonest policy of the Polish authorities towards Belarus and Russia,” the judge noted adding that he was meaning Warsaw's involvement in the conflict with Moscow and Minsk. He also called on the Polish authorities to revise relations with Russia and Belarus.

Speaking at the conference, Szmydt asked President of Belarus Alexander Lukashenko to grant him a political asylum in Belarus.

Secretary of the Foreign Ministry of Belarus Anatoly Glaz noted that the Belarusian authorities promised to carefully review the judge's appeal for asylum in Belarus in accordance with law.

Polish officials noted that they were shocked by Schmidt's statement.

"I can't comment on this, but it seems that [Schmidt] is someone who was involved in political hate during the previous government,” Polish Foreign Minister Radoslaw Sikorski said.