Poland issues European arrest warrant for former deputy minister

Poland has issued a European arrest warrant for a deputy minister in the last Law and Justice (PiS) government, a spokesman for Warsaw prosecutors said on Wednesday.

The subject of the warrant, former deputy justice minister Marcin Romanowski, was thought to be in another European Union country, the spokesman said.

Romanowski is being investigated in connection with 11 cases, including suspected membership of a criminal organization. He is alleged to have funnelled large amounts from a fund for the victims of crime to projects seen as beneficial to the PiS by then justice minister Zbigniew Ziobro.

Romanowski, who was briefly arrested in July, denies all the allegations. He was released days later on the grounds that he enjoyed immunity as delegate to the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe.

This was lifted in October, and on December 9 a Polish court ordered that he be rearrested. Romanowski could not be tracked down.

The national-conservative PiS ruled Poland from 2015 and 2023 and is currently the largest opposition party.