The European Parliament has voted to strip Polish far-right lawmaker Grzegorz Braun of his parliamentary immunity, paving the way for prosecutors in Poland to pursue legal
action over allegations of Holocaust denial and acts of vandalism involving symbolic flags.
The decision, approved on Thursday, follows requests from Polish prosecutors concerning two separate cases. These include incidents in which Braun allegedly destroyed flags representing Ukraine, the European Union, and the LGBT+ community, as well as public statements denying crimes committed by Nazi Germany during World War II.
The vote came after the parliament’s legal affairs committee unanimously recommended lifting Braun’s immunity earlier in the week.
Polish MEP Krzysztof Śmiszek, representing the New Left group, said the chamber had taken a clear stance against hate and discrimination. “There is no place in this parliament for antisemitism, racism or homophobia,” he said, emphasizing that such views contradict European values.
Another Polish lawmaker, Michał Wawrykiewicz of the European People’s Party, described one of the cases as particularly disturbing. He pointed to statements in which Braun allegedly denied the existence of gas chambers at the Auschwitz concentration camp, a site synonymous with the atrocities of the Holocaust.
The move allows prosecutors to formally investigate the allegations and potentially bring the case before a court. However, lifting parliamentary immunity does not imply guilt; it simply removes legal protections that shield lawmakers from prosecution while in office.
This marks the fourth time the European Parliament has voted to waive Braun’s immunity. Previous cases involved controversial actions such as extinguishing Hanukkah candles in the Polish parliament and an alleged assault on a gynecologist in the town of Oleśnica.
Wawrykiewicz noted that Braun has become a well-known figure in Brussels due to repeated legal controversies, describing him as a frequent subject of immunity waiver requests. Photo by Sejm RP from Polska, Wikimedia commons.