DISINFO: The Polish special services detained a communist activist only to justify their existence
SUMMARY
Michał Nowicki was arrested because he is a communist. Polish special services decided to demonstrate some “success” in order to justify their financing from the budget. The web page of the ABW [PL: Agencja Bezpieczenstwa Wewnetrznego, Internal Security Agency] states: “The main task of the Internal Security Agency is to protect the state against activities posing a threat to the constitutional order of Poland, disrupting the functioning of state structures and harming the key interests of the country”. No matter what our attitude to communism is, we should ask a question – why is the issue of Nowicki handled by the ABW if it clearly lays outside of the competence of this service? The answer may surprise many of you – the ABW needs to do at least something in order to justify its financing.
RESPONSE
This message is a part of the Kremlin’s widespread narrative about “undemocratic” Poland, which actively violates Human Rights and the Rule of Law “persecuting” Russian journalists and its own citizens for political reasons.
The claim that Michał Nowicki was detained “for his views” is ungrounded.
On 7 July 2021, the Polish Internal Security Agency (ABW) detained Michał Nowicki, a Polish pro-communist activist and publicist, accusing him of the promotion of the totalitarian ideology. According to the Polish authorities, this person called upon a “revolution” in Poland in order to re-introduce the totalitarian communist regime in this country. In his appeals, Nowicki urged to destroy particular historical monuments in Poland and to attack priests, entrepreneurs and Polish soldiers. Michał Nowicki repeatedly praised the violent actions of Stalin and Dzerzhinsky as well as other Soviet crimes committed against the Polish people. The Polish prosecution accuses Nowicki of the promotion of a totalitarian regime and extremist appeals.
The Polish law prohibits any public promotion of totalitarian ideologies (Fascism/Nazism and Communism).
See other examples of similar messages claiming that Polish media promote the idea that the Russians are not people, but the “agents of the Kremlin”, Poland started another wave of Russophobic political persecution of the Russian journalists and the Polish authoritarian state may brutally attack any of its citizens for his views and opinions.