Polish MPs reject no-confidence bid against interior minister
PR dla Zagranicy
Paweł Kononczuk
05.07.2017 13:09
The Polish parliament on Wednesday rejected a motion to hold a vote of no confidence targeting Interior Minister Mariusz Błaszczak put forward by the opposition Civic Platform (PO) party.
Mariusz Błaszczak (left) and PM Beata Szydło (right) in parliament. Photo: PAP/Paweł Supernak
After a stormy debate, 194 MPs backed the motion, with 236 opposing it. Five did not vote.
The motion needed 231 votes to be approved by the lower house, in which deputies from the ruling, conservative Law and Justice (PiS) party hold a majority.
Błaszczak, who oversees the Polish police, came under fire by the opposition following the death of a 25-year-old man who was brutally assaulted and shot with an electroshock weapon by police officers in Wrocław, southwest Poland, last year.
The victim had been detained after being mistaken for a local drug dealer.
The private TVN broadcaster obtained footage of the victim being shot with a stun gun in the bathroom of a Wrocław police station. The handcuffed man was shown sitting on the floor in his underwear.
Addressing Błaszczak, PO leader Grzegorz Schetyna said in parliament on Wednesday: “You have blood on your hands.”
PiS leader Jarosław Kaczyński dismissed the accusation while Prime Minister Beata Szydło said Błaszczak would remain in his post. "I want Poland and Poles to be secure, and Błaszczak guarantees that," she added.
(pk)
Source: PAP