WARSAW - A Polish judge who fled to neighbouring Belarus and reportedly asked for political asylum over spying allegations he denies, had access to classified information, Prime Minister Donald Tusk said on May 7.

Belarus announced on May 6 that judge Tomasz Szmydt had crossed into the Moscow-allied state, with whom Poland has tense relations, particularly since the start of the war in Ukraine.

“We have to be aware that the Belarussian services are working with a person who had direct access to the (former) justice minister... and several classified documents that no intelligence service should be able to get their hands on at any cost,” Mr Tusk told reporters.

Judge Szmydt was close to Poland’s former governing right-wing Law and Justice (PiS) party, which lost power to the current pro-European Union coalition late 2023.

After he fled to Belarus, prosecutors in Warsaw launched an inquiry into possible espionage against him.

Poland’s ABW secret services said separately that they were checking “the extent of the classified information to which the judge had access”.

The crime of espionage comes with a sentence of at least eight years in prison.

“Szmydt’s ties with the Belarussians go back a long way, (not just) the past few months,” Mr Tusk said.

The judge and his ex-wife had taken part in an online campaign attacking judges who spoke out against reforms the PiS had introduced to the Polish legal system.

The EU and Washington said the reforms undermined the independence of Poland’s courts.

Hostile foreign presence

In a message published on May 6 in Russian and Polish, Mr Szmydt complained he was the target of “fabricated” accusations of spying.

He said the Polish authorities were “leading the country to war, under the influence of the United States and United Kingdom”.

Relations between Warsaw and Minsk have been strained for years, due to a political crackdown in Belarus and a tussle over migrants.

They have sunk to new lows since President Alexander Lukashenko backed Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.

Belarusian state news agency Belta said on May 6 that Mr Szmydt had asked the autocratic Mr Lukashenko for asylum.

“This is an act of protest against Poland’s politics towards Belarus and Russia,” Belta quoted Mr Szmydt as telling a press conference in Belarus.

Mr Tusk warned on May 7 that Belarussian and Russian secret services could target countries in the EU, of which Poland is a member, before the European Parliament elections in early June.

“Indications of a very aggressive presence – by foreign services that are hostile to us in Europe – are getting stronger day by day and will continue to intensify due to the European elections,”“ the centrist leader said.

“We need to be aware of this.”

“We should have no illusions as to the objective Moscow and Minsk have set themselves over the coming months,” said Mr Tusk, after meeting European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen in the southern city of Katowice. AFP