Request for the waiver of the immunity of Adam Bielan

The European Parliament decided to waive the immunity of Adam Bielan.

On 5 July 2024, Criminal Division V of the District Court for Warsaw-Śródmieście in Poland transmitted a request for the waiver of the parliamentary immunity of Adam Bielan, Member of the European Parliament elected in Poland, submitted to it by a private party on the grounds of certain statements made by Adam Bielan during a radio interview broadcast on 10 March 2023. The request for a waiver of immunity was made in connection with criminal proceedings brought against Adam Bielan concerning defamation.

The alleged defamatory statements were made by Adam Bielan during an interview for a programme by the radio station RMF FM, which was broadcast in Poland on 10 March 2023, in connection with the operation and management of the Polish National Centre for Research and Development, which is an executive agency of the Polish Ministry of Science and Higher Education.

According to the private bill of indictment, Adam Bielan allegedly made the defamatory statements with the intention of damaging the public reputation of two individuals and a company, headquartered in Warsaw, and rendering likely a loss of the necessary trust placed in them to perform their respective roles and carry out their respective activities.

Parliament considered that, having regard to the circumstances described in the request for the waiver of immunity, the context and the content of the alleged defamatory statements made by Adam Bielan, a direct and obvious connection between those statements and his mandate as a Member of the European Parliament does not appear to exist. The alleged actions therefore do not constitute an opinion expressed or a vote cast by Adam Bielan in the performance of his duties.

In this case, Parliament found no evidence of fumus persecutionis, which is to say factual elements indicating that the intention underlying the legal proceedings in question is to undermine the Member’s political activity in his capacity as a Member of the European Parliament.