In 2020, Mirosław Iwański took a banner to Andrzej Duda's polling rally in Łowicz, which said: “We have a fool for president. In his speech, Iwanski quoted the words of Lech Walesa from 2007, which were directed to Lech Kaczyński.
‘Political skin’
It was originally considered that Iwanski insulted the President, but in March 2023 the Court of Appeal in Łódź acquitted him legally. The Court of First Instance interpreted the rules by referring to the principles laid down by the European Court of Human Rights, including the rule of "the thicker skin of politicians". This rule means that those with circumstantial public functions must accept that the limits of acceptable criticism for them are broader than for private individuals.
However, the Prosecutor's Office of Łowicz disagreed with this verdict and filed a cassation with the ultimate Court. The ultimate Court judgement of March 20 yet settled the Ivansk case.
He was a candidate, not a president.
In his message of reasons, justice Zbigniew Puszkarski stressed that the ultimate Court does not support behaviour that degrades the level of public debate. "However, there is simply a limit within which a citizen can move. In this case, Mr.Iwanski did not cross this border," explained justice Puszkarski, quoted by the Republic of Poland.
In addition, the justice noted that Andrzej Duda came to the rally in Łowicz as a associate in the run before the presidential election, not as a head of state. In this regard, citizens had the right to express their opinion on it, even in specified an inelegant way as was the case with Ivanski. Not the president himself, but the presidential candidate, which was a crucial difference in the result of the case. In addition, the ultimate Court did not receive the quoted quote as clearly vulgar and “spinning a spiral of hatred”.
Mirosław Iwanski will not be punished for utilizing a banner with a password:
"We have a fool for president"
during the election rally. The ultimate Court decided that the slogan did not insult Andrzej Duda pic.twitter.com/nMxZXpZauk
— Magda Ifrita Gibbson ☢ (@IfritaMagda) March 20, 2024
