Former Minister of Interior and Administration Mariusz Kamiński and his deputy Maciej Wąsik refused to appear for the proceeding before the Parliamentary Committee on Pegasus, scheduled for today.
They justified their decision by the Constitutional Court ruling of 10 September 2024, which declared the scope of the committee's action incompatible with the Constitution.
Maciej Wąsik in his message published on platform X (formerly Twitter) wrote:
“I declare that I will not be on call for today’s Pegasus Commission hearing. According to the judgement of the Constitutional Court, the ‘Commission’ is acting illegally, which relieves me of my work to appear. At the same time, I believe that the work of the “commission” and the attitude of its members undermine the dignity of the Polish Sejm.”
Mariusz Kamiński besides refused to attend the committee meeting, arguing that it acted illegally in the light of the Constitutional Court ruling.
In its judgement of 10 September 2024, the Constitutional Court held that the scope of the Pegasus investigation committee was inconsistent with the constitution. This ruling came after a complaint from a group of Members of Law and Justice who questioned the legality of the Sejm resolution of 17 January 2024 on the appointment of this committee.
Despite the Court's ruling, the president of the Committee, Magdalena Sroka (PSL-TD), announced the continuation of the committee's work, stressing that the decision of the Constitutional Tribunal did not affect their further action.
The Pegasus Investigative Commission was set up to analyse the legality, regularity and usefulness of operational and investigative activities undertaken, inter alia, with the usage of Pegasus software in 2015-2023.
