Poland’s former Interior Minister Mariusz Kaminski says he has started a hunger strike as a “political prisoner”, a day after he was arrested and sent to prison on abuse of power charges.
Kaminski made the announcement on Wednesday, following his arrest along with his deputy, Maciej Wasik, inside the Presidential Palace in Warsaw.
“I declare that I treat my conviction … as an act of political revenge,” Kaminski said in the statement, read by his former deputy Blazej Pobozy at a news conference in front of the prime minister’s office.
New Prime Minister Donald Tusk, of the Civic Platform party, has pledged to undo the policies of his predecessors – the government of the nationalist Law and Justice (PiS) party – and punish those accused of wrongdoing during their time in power. Kaminski and Wasik are members of PiS.
“As a political prisoner, I started a hunger strike from the first day of my imprisonment,” Kaminski’s statement read.
Deputy Justice Minister Maria Ejchart responded to the strike by saying the two former officials are not political prisoners and any prisoner has the right to refuse to eat and drink if they so choose.
Police on Tuesday acted on a court order to take Kaminski and Wasik into custody, amid an ongoing dispute between the head of state and the new government.