President Karol Nawrocki has issued his first three pardons to ordinary citizens facing exceptional health or family difficulties.
Who Received Pardons?
On February 4th, Chief of Staff Paweł Szefernaker revealed the identities of the first three individuals pardoned by President Karol Nawrocki. All were ordinary Poles in dramatic situations, not high-profile cases, he emphasized.
First Case: The Elderly Widow
The first person pardoned was an over-85-year-old, chronically ill widow who sold her apartment to pay off debts and atone for her offense. Due to her very poor health, advanced age, remorse, and good character references, she received a humanitarian pardon.
Second Case: Accident Victim
The second pardon went to a person in a difficult life situation after a traffic accident that caused severe physical harm and serious oncological problems. They had been out of conflict with the law for years and are today unable to serve their sentence, prompting the humanitarian pardon.
Third Case: Caregiving Husband
The third pardoned individual was described as “a husband and father, caring for his wife undergoing treatment for a particularly aggressive form of cancer.” Imprisonment would have ruined the family, according to the President’s collaborator.
Legal Justification
In all three cases, courts had given positive evaluations and the circumstances were exceptionally difficult, either family-related or health-related. The Prosecutor General supported each decision, with the President stating that “the state cannot be weak to the strong and strong to the weak, it must be just.”
Other Pardon Decisions
On February 2nd, it was also announced that five people had been denied pardons, as their applications were not signed. In four additional cases, the President requested files from the Prosecutor General, suggesting potential pardons under consideration.