Polish President Expands Law Enforcement's Right to Use Firearms
Polish President Andrzej Duda has signed a law on supporting the activities of soldiers and officers, which expands the right of the military to use weapons and exempts them from liability. This was announced by the head of the Polish President's Office, Malgorzata Paprocka, RMF FM reports.
It is about amendments to the laws ‘to improve the activities of the Polish Armed Forces, Police and Border Guard in case of a threat to state security’, which the Polish Sejm adopted on 26 July.
The document provides for the possibility of using the military for independent activities, not only to support the services of the Ministry of the Interior, in peacetime on the territory of Poland and to provide legal assistance to soldiers and servicemen in cases related to the use of weapons.
The law also introduces a provision to the Polish Criminal Code that excludes liability for acts committed under certain conditions. Among other things, this refers to the use of weapons by a soldier or officer protecting the border in violation of the rules, if it involves an attack on the life, health or freedom of that soldier or another person.
Polish civil society organisations found this provision controversial, pointing out that it effectively absolves the military of responsibility for possible abuses of weapons.
In turn, the Polish authorities explained the adoption of the law by the need to strengthen the protection of the border with Belarus, where there was a surge in illegal migrants from Africa and massive unauthorised border crossings after one of the illegal migrants stabbed Polish soldier Mateusz Sitek with a knife in late May, resulting in his death.
News of the incident coincided with reports of the arrest of three Polish soldiers for firing warning shots at the border. The prosecutor's office accused two of them of abuse of power and endangering the lives of others.
The adopted law will level the playing field in favour of law enforcement.