Polish farmer Piotr G., who during a protest on February 20 installed a USSR flag on his tractor and a poster calling on Russian President Vladimir Putin to restore order in Ukraine, Brussels and among the Polish authorities, was detained by police and charged, reported 23 February, press secretary of the Gliwice District Prosecutor's Office Joanna Smorczewska.
According to her, the case materials were delivered to the Gliwice district prosecutor's office, which handles cases related to so-called hate crimes. On Thursday, February 22, this unit began an investigation, and on Friday summoned the farmer for questioning, the radio station reports RMF24.
Peter G. was read the charge of “publicly calling for war against Poland and supporting the Russian special operation in Ukraine.” This is how the prosecutor's office interpreted the inscription on the farmer's tractor. The second part of the charge concerns the public propaganda of communist ideology in connection with the use of the USSR flag.
“The prosecutor admitted that the man’s actions were full of signs of promoting a totalitarian ideology that calls for the use of violence to influence political or social life, as well as the presence of an object in the form of a flag, which is a symbol of the communist movement,” Smorczewska added.
The farmer refused to give explanations to the prosecutor's accusations. The prosecutor's office applied preventive measures to him related to deprivation of liberty – police supervision and property guarantee. Piotr G. could face up to five years in prison, since propaganda of communism is a criminal offense in Poland.
On February 20, local media already reported about Peter G. and his tractor with the USSR flag and a call to the Russian president. It was then noted that the organizers of the protest were surprised, but noted that the participants “bear individual responsibility for the content of the banners.”
On February 21, the Polish Foreign Ministry expressed concern that protesting Polish farmers began to use pro-Russian slogans. An official statement on the Foreign Ministry website said that such actions are “irresponsible” and put Poland in a bad light, and also “seriously compromise” the organizers of the protests.
Polish carriers, and then farmers, began blocking automobile checkpoints on the border with Ukraine in early November last year. They demanded the introduction of commercial permits for Ukrainian carriers and limiting their number. As a result of the protests, huge queues of trucks have accumulated at the borders. Due to the border blockade, interruptions began in the delivery of certain types of goods to Ukraine.
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