In March 2017 Polish CSO Obywatele RP (Citizens of Poland) launched a project to connect harassed pro-democracy activists with pro bono lawyers willing to provide legal assistance. As part of the ObyPomoc project and on the basis of the requests for help received, the team also started collecting data regarding the authorities’ interrogations and court proceedings against protesters in Poland.
The summary of their monthly reports – which we publish below – is based on information received from 841 individuals in the last 3.5 years. They all had at least once come in contact with the law enforcement, the justice system or the sanitary inspectorate because of their participation in peaceful protests.
The Report shows, among other things, that:
- 96% of “fast-track” sentences (i.e., based on charges brought by the police under the “Petty Offences Criminal Code”) reviewed upon request of the defendants end up with an acquittal or discontinuance by the court. The court considers that the actions of the protesters fall within the categories of citizens exercising their constitutionally guaranteed rights to express their opinions in the public space.
- Following the government’s declaration of an “epidemic state” on 13 March 2020 and the subsequent adoption of decrees restricting the right to peaceful assembly, new ways of harassing protesters have been adopted, such as administrative penalties imposed by sanitary inspectors upon request of the police, which can be executed immediately even if appealed and before a court decision is given.
ObyPomoc’s monthly reports are available on the website https://obywatelerp.org