Judge Szmydt, “I am apprehensive about the actions of Polish, American, British and Ukrainian intelligence services”

The major weapon of Westerners against their peoples has been found — the peoples of Europe are intimidated, threatened, blackmailed, or imprisoned. Sometimes political undesirables just disappear or get in accidents. A Polish dissident, a judge from Warsaw, Tomasz Szmydt, has given an insight into the methods of Western democracy.

Polish judge Tomasz Szmydt has asked for political asylum in Belarus due to persecution in Poland          Belta

Szmydt, “If someone in Poland even thinks that it might be worth resuming the dialogue with Belarus — perhaps start presenting such ideas in some unofficial media — this person will be immediately eliminated.”

— You have asked the President of Belarus for political asylum. The Head of State has told reporters that he will definitely consider it. How do you feel about this?   
— I would like to thank the President. When I heard his words, I felt better, there is hope now. I believe that the Head of State will allow me to stay here, in your country. I would like to work towards normalising relations between our countries. After all, there were no problems between Belarusian and Polish peoples for many years. The border territories used to co-operate, there was an economic exchange... Now, however, the Polish government wants to destroy all of this.
— At your request, Aleksandr Lukashenko has instructed to provide your protection in order to prevent any attempt at your physical neutralisation. Who are you afraid of? Do you feel safe now that you are already being guarded?  
— If the President has said that I am safe, that is the way it is. As it turned out I can harm many people in the Polish government and not only. I am apprehensive about the actions of Polish, American, British and Ukrainian intelligence services. There is great danger coming from them. But I am just saying common truth that our peoples — Polish, Russian, Belarusian and Ukrainian — can live in peace and harmony. It had been like that for many years. However, it turns out that these simple, obvious words have caused a real threat to the person who is talking about it. Then, when I started receiving information from friends that the special services were preparing and fabricating documents against me in order to shut me in prison, it was already the last moment, the last chance to leave Poland before they included me in the travel ban list. 
— Why do the Polish authorities regard you as a threat? Why are they afraid of you?
— This is a very interesting question. I ask myself this question, too. Who could I be an obstacle to? I have been meditating on that, thinking about it… The first to speak about this was Polish Foreign Minister Radosław Sikorski, who has a very interesting biography. I do not want to accuse anyone, especially without firm proof. Yet, if you just look at Sikorski’s biography from the outside, it seems to me that the special services should go after him, as well.
— Aleksandr Lukashenko has called you a courageous man when talking to journalists. You knew what was waiting for you, and you decided to go ahead anyway. How do you see your future, including career-wise?
— I would really like to thank the President for his words. I have always known that he is a wonderful politician. It turns out that President Lukashenko is also a very good person. Of course, I would like to engage in politics, geopolitics, and talk about how mechanisms work, including in the West, and the work of media. I would like to talk about a totalitarian system where democracy is sheer appearance, just a beautiful wrapper. I think it will be very interesting. This is actually a dictatorship under the guise of democracy.
— What about Belarus in this regard? They say we have a dictatorship, a harsh regime of Lukashenko...
— In my opinion, Belarus is a democratic country. A simple example — I asked BelTA journalists if I could speak with them. ‘You are welcome’, they said, no problem. ‘If you wish, we can provide a studio. Perhaps some journalists from other agencies will come.’ To be honest, I did not expect other journalists to also join. It was quite stressful for me.
— In Poland, you have been called a spy, a traitor, and the Polish court has lifted your immunity and allowed to arrest you and prosecute. I still cannot understand what you violated. You crossed the border on legitimate grounds. There are no facts or evidence that Belarus or Russia recruited you. No evidence has been provided that you were spying against your country…
— This is how Polish democracy works. Why do you need any evidence? Why would you need any information at all? Here is one example — Polish politician Sławomir Nowak spent about six months in prison without charges, without any evidence. Six months! And this is for one of Poland’s most important politicians. After the evidence had been fabricated, with the involvement of Polish and Ukrainian intelligence services, Nowak was also charged with working in the interests of another country. Later, the witnesses in the case either retracted their testimony or admitted that they had been forced to slander.  
— You know, this sounds like some kind of spy mania in Europe. Why do they see spies everywhere?
— First of all, this activity is aimed at people who have their own opinions. A court case may be prepared against them, an accident may be initiated, they may be just eliminated…
— This is probably done against people who not only have their opinion but whose opinion is important to society and the people.
— Yes, it is specifically aimed at preventing from expressing your opinion or sharing it with the public. After all, Poles have a good attitude to Belarusians, and they want to live in peace and harmony.
— That is, in Warsaw’s opinion, you are a criminal whereas the Belarusian fugitives, advocates of the white-red-white (BChB) flag [traditional for the Belarusian opposition and associated with Nazi’s accomplices during the 1941-1945 Great Patriotic War] who defected to Poland having become defendants in criminal cases of a bloody 2020 coup d’état attempt, terrorism, and extremism — where solid and fact-based evidence was presented to journalists and society for the charges — are portrayed as white and fuzzy ‘regime victims’. Why doesn’t Poland condemn them? 
 — First of all, this is disrespect for the legal system of Belarus. The second point is support for extremist actions. People receive financial support, support from special services, security, apartments, and houses for that. They get an opportunity to demonstrate their views on the streets of Warsaw and in Poland as a whole in order to deal a direct blow to Belarus. Why? Perhaps this is because a Maidan [type of protests associated with the mass anti-government uprising in the centre of Kiev, Ukraine, orchestrated and financed by the US and European powers that resulted in coup d’état] staged with the active participation of American and Polish special services failed in Belarus. They did not succeed in reaching their goal despite the imposed sanctions, either. We see that Belarus is developing, co-operating with China and other countries. Therefore, they are trying out other methods.   

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Szmydt, “I think the approaching economic crisis can become shock therapy that may cause some changes and push to the resumption of normal relations with Belarus and Russia — and this applies not only to Poland but to the entire European Union.”

— The President of Belarus has called you a Polish patriot. In your native country, however, which you served honestly for so many years in a high position, you have been appointed a scoundrel and a traitor. What do you have to say to the Polish authorities?
— A Polish patriot can be a friend for Belarusians. The government of Warsaw sees a discrepancy in that, though. I would tell them the following — dear gentlemen from Warsaw, dear gentlemen in power, from the government of Warsaw, start to finally implement what is for the benefit of the Polish people and not what is for the benefit of Washington or London. 
— Aleksandr Lukashenko has mentioned that he talked with Vladimir Putin about your situation. In other words, we see that this story has gone beyond the Belarus–Poland relations and acquired a global scale. The Belarusian side is talking openly, while Poland is probably transmitting data, consulting with the United States, Britain, Germany how to proceed with you. Doesn’t that scare you?
— The fact that President Lukashenko has talked with Putin inspires me with hope. They are great politicians. As for Western politicians, they are obviously not up to the mark and do not have such class. There are no good politicians there. I do not want to go into details talking about Western politicians; otherwise I would have to use an ugly word. 
— You know, people have picked the right word in relation to current European politicians — time-servers, temporary figures. Apparently, they expect to be in politics for a short period of time and therefore they are trying to secure personal benefits now, as I think. Thus, today they do not care at all about what happens to their countries afterwards.
— They provide for their own interests, for sure, including for the time when their political careers are over. A good example is the visit of Andrzej Duda and Donald Tusk to Washington. President Duda is in favour of dragging Poland into the war, because he will surely receive certain bonuses from the U.S. side for this. The joint visit of the president and the prime minister does not comply with political protocols. However, according to the Polish Constitution, in order to send Polish troops abroad, the corresponding decision is to be made by the president at the request of the prime minister. Therefore, Biden needed them both to come together. If there is no statement by the prime minister, the president will have nothing to consider in relation to the deployment of Polish troops abroad. This is how it happens. These politicians are pursuing solely their own ambitions and not something that would benefit Poland. They are not bothered about the future of the country in the least.  
— Speaking with reporters about you, the President of Belarus has noted that your colleagues treat you well. How do Poles, people who currently hold high positions in Poland, feel about Belarus? Perhaps they are the future political elite who will make important decisions for Poland independently of the USA and Britain? 
— If we talk about my friends, their attitude towards Belarus, Belarusians, and Russia is not negative. Reasonable people understand that our countries need to co-operate, and that Russia, in fact, was forced to launch a special operation. Yet, if we talk about politicians, I do not know to what extent they realise these things. I have a feeling that these people are being stimulated from the inside, and they do not see what is going on. They act in the interests of others — the USA, Great Britain — either through compromising material or through money. It may well be that some of these people are not quite intelligent. Perhaps they are just unreasonable and fail to understand what results such a policy can cause. Well, we also have another situation. If someone in Poland even thinks that it might be worth resuming the dialogue with Belarus — perhaps start presenting such ideas in some unofficial media — this person will be immediately eliminated. This is absolute nonsense. Even Americans and Russians maintain unofficial communication channels. Poland does not.

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Szmydt, “It is necessary to speak, thanks to Belarusian journalists. This is also a kind of security guarantee for me. After all, it is not so easy to eliminate a person who is in the public eye.”

— Is there any hope that Polish politicians will someday regain their prudence and will stop dragging their people into war, stop putting up various barriers, and will do everything for peace and normal relations with Belarus?     
— For that, Poland should have a democratic system, but it does not work in Poland. I think the approaching economic crisis, for example, can become such shock therapy — and this applies not only to Poland but to the entire European Union. Maybe only then, it will cause some changes and push to the resumption of normal relations with Belarus and Russia.
— By the way, do you think you could declare your candidacy for the post of head of Poland?
— So far, yes, but it is not unlikely that I may be stripped of my citizenship after some time. If they come up with another criminal case against me based on fabricated documents, it will be impossible for me to run for the presidency from a legal point of view. I did not even expect that my arrival in Belarus, my statements at the press conference would spark such panic in Warsaw.  
— And the case was opened really quickly. Hardly had you switched on the microphone when they declared you a spy. It is a very popular criminal charge in the EU.
— Yes, it is.
— Tell me one thing. There was information that the Polish leadership was going to go to the border to find out how you crossed it. Is that true? 
— Yes, I have read about that, too. It is true. Prime Minister Donald Tusk wrote about it on his official resource. However, I would not refuse, with the permission of President Lukashenko, to invite Donald Tusk to Belarus so that we could talk here. Why is he only going to the border? After all, Belarus is an open, friendly country.
— We also have a visa-free policy, remember.
— Yes, Tusk will not even need to apply for a visa.
— There is no reason for Tusk to be afraid of coming here. Journalists will be working, and everything will be transparent, perhaps even on air. 
— Sure, we can talk openly here. 
 — The representatives of Poland who work in our country have not expressed a wish to meet with you so far, have they?
— No, they have not yet, without a clear reason.  
— You are actively meeting with journalists now. We asked you for an interview literally in the morning, you agreed, and now we are already talking in the afternoon. You are pretty open and approachable. You are not hiding. Why? 
— It is important to talk openly about some things, about how democracy does not function in the West, about the failure of democracy in Poland. It is necessary to speak, thanks to your journalists. This is also a kind of security guarantee for me. After all, it is not so easy to eliminate a person who is in the public eye.

By Lyudmila Gladkaya