“Suski, Gnome”: PiS and Konfederacja Clash Over Mentzen’s Past

During a television appearance, PiS politician Marek Suski accused Konfederacja leader Sławomir Mentzen of having ties to military intelligence, prompting a furious, highly personal online rebuke.

Suski Questions Mentzen’s Background

During Thursday’s “Tłit” program on Wirtualna Polska, Marek Suski was asked by journalist Michał Wróblewski about the internal situation within PiS amid party conflicts, referencing a post by Sławomir Mentzen in which the Konfederacja leader addressed PiS by writing, “you are closer to appointing a party liquidator than a prime minister.”

Suski claimed that someone is pulling the strings regarding Mentzen, pointing out that Mentzen himself reportedly mentions his first businesses involved arms trading. Suski argued that arms trading in Poland used to take place under the umbrella of WSI (Military Information Services), concluding that if Mentzen did business there, he must have friends who are aligned with Platforma, making Mentzen a “completely unreliable man.”

Mentzen’s Sharp Online Response

The Konfederacja leader reacted later that same day on platform X, writing, “Suski, gnome. You say I have friends in WSI because I used to have a small hunting shop?” He recalled running the shop in the past and stated that obtaining a license for arms trade was a “bureaucratic ordeal” lasting six months.

Mentzen stated this experience reinforced his belief in how dysfunctional the state built by the PiS government is, where officials act as “masters of life and death for businesses.” He accused Suski of presenting the “worst possible PiS approach to entrepreneurs,” assuming anyone who makes money is automatically suspected of dishonest connections, adding that in the world of PiS politicians, “money can only be stolen, embezzled, or plundered from the state.” The Konfederacja politician concluded by writing he cannot wait for PiS politicians to “disappear from politics” and allow Poles to “develop normally.”