Mariusz Kamiński is one of the most noble, honest, and courageous people I have the privilege to know. An anticommunist rebel, freedom fighter and anticorruption leader, in the last 8 years did a tremendous job building Poland’s resilience against Putin’s and Lukashenka’s hybrid warfare.

Donald Tusk’s decision to imprison him for his fight against corruption 17 years ago, is a symbolic step in the re-establishment of a post-communist system in Poland. A scandalous decision, violating the presidential pardon granted in 2015 and rulings and decisions of the Supreme Court and the Constitutional Tribunal, as well as unlawful revoking his MP’s mandate and depriving him of parliamentary immunity, is alarming to all of us.

I began my adult life in the Solidarity movement in the 1980s. As a politician after the fall of communism, I have dedicated many of my efforts to support human rights worldwide, visiting jailed leaders and politicians in person. I had never imagined that in an independent Poland I would be visiting political prisoners once again. Dear Mariusz Kamiński and Maciej Wąsik, be sure you will not be left alone.

This situation should not be only a Polish concern. Yes, there will be plenty of reassuring messages and words of deception from Tusk’s side. But I warn that weakening Poland by reviving a troubled past by the Berlin-backed government in a time of Russia’s openly brutal policy of imperialism, sooner or later will bring more misery to the entire region.

Silence and timidity from the West, its leaders, and institutions is yet another confirmation of the crisis Europe has fallen into several years ago. But I am sure the Poles will prevail and safeguard the liberties we have had to fight for for generations. We will keep fighting.

Shame on Donald Tusk, his acolytes and those who stay silent in these testing times.

Anna Fotyga, MEP, former Polish FM