Andrzej Duda
A case was opened against Polish writer Jakub Zulczyk for insulting Polish President Andrzej Duda. The writer announced this on his Facebook page.
He said that no one had officially informed him about the criminal case initiated. He learned about the accusation from the “government-friendly portal” wPolityce. “I suspect that I am the first writer in this country in a very long time to stand trial for what I wrote,” Zhulchik said.
Prosecutors found the word “moron” used by the writer in relation to the head of state as “offensive and unacceptable”, writes BBC News. Now, under article 135 (“Insult to the head of state”) of the Polish Criminal Code, he faces up to three years in prison.
Aleksandra Skrzyniarz, a spokeswoman for the Warsaw District Prosecutor's Office, said that “the suspect did not confess to the alleged act.” The writer himself called the words “a critical assessment of the president's actions,” notes The Guardian.
The comment, because of which Zhulchik will go to trial, was left in November 2020. Then Duda on Twitter congratulated Joe Biden on a successful presidential campaign, and not on an election victory, and indicated that he was waiting for the “Electoral College nomination.” The writer, in response, reproached the head of state for not understanding the American electoral process and stressed that he had never heard the term “nomination of the Electoral College”. “Joe Biden is the 46th President of the United States. Andrzej Duda is a moron, ”he concluded.
Jakub Zhulczyk is a Polish journalist, publicist, laureate of the Warsaw Literary Prize. He is the author of the novels “Radio Armageddon”, “Dog Mountain” and “Blinded by the Lights”. The latter formed the basis of the Polish crime television series of the same name on HBO Europe.
There are nine different laws on insult in Poland. Among them there is also a law on insulting religious feelings, as well as on insulting the flags of Poland or other countries.
