European Parliament lawyers are examining a request from Polish prosecutors to detain MEP Grzegorz Braun, the leader of the far-right Confederation of the Polish Crown party.
Far-right Polish MEP Grzegorz Braun appears at a Warsaw court on 13 April 2026 for a hearing over charges including the extinguishing of Hanukkah candles in Poland’s parliament in December 2023.PAP/Paweł Supernak
Parliament President Roberta Metsola is expected to respond shortly, according to Polish Radio’s news agency IAR.
The District Prosecutor’s Office in Wrocław is seeking permission to arrest Braun in order to formally charge him in connection with an incident at a hospital in Oleśnica, where a gynaecologist was allegedly unlawfully detained during what Braun described as a „citizen’s arrest”.
Prosecutors have summoned Braun on previous occasions, but he either filed motions to disqualify the investigators or submitted excuses for his absence.
Authorities now say his conduct is deliberately prolonging and obstructing the investigation.
The European Parliament voted in November to strip Braun of his immunity, which prosecutors believed opened the way for charges to be brought – but Braun has continued to avoid appearing before them.
Polish prosecutors followed domestic procedure by submitting a second, separate request specifically seeking authorisation to detain him – mirroring the two-stage process used in Poland’s national parliament.
However, the European Parliament’s prevailing view is that a single immunity-waiver decision covers all subsequent investigative steps, leaving the rest to national authorities.
Some voices within the institution have suggested the entire immunity procedure may need to restart, this time on grounds of obstructing the investigation.
The proceedings unfold against the backdrop of earlier controversies involving Braun, whose actions and rhetoric have drawn accusations of antisemitism and placed him at the centre of debates about the boundaries of political expression.
Braun is expected to face charges relating to six incidents.
It is not the first time the parliament has been asked to act against him: MEPs have now voted to waive Braun’s immunity four times in total, in cases ranging from the extinguishing of Hanukkah candles in the Polish parliament to the destruction of LGBT+ flags and Holocaust denial.
(ał)
Source: IAR, tvp.pl
Radio Poland