Activists Arrested In Poland For Offending Religious Beliefs
Three women in Poland, identified only as El偶bieta, Anna and Joanna are currently on trial for 鈥渙ffending religious beliefs鈥�, PinkNews If found guilty of this crime, the three women could face jail sentences of two years, each.
The three women are facing jail time after sharing posters of the Virgin Mary with a rainbow-coloured halo.
The first hearing takes places on Wednesday, November 4. Amnesty International as well as a number of other leading human rights organisations have joined over 140,000 people in campaigning for Polish authorities to dismiss the case ahead of this hearing.
Amnesty International that 鈥渢he case against them is not unique but an example of the repeated harassment activists and human rights defenders face, simply for carrying out peaceful activism in Poland, which Polish and international human rights organisations have documented and denounced at length in the last several years.鈥�
The three women are no strangers to activism. In one of the women, El偶bieta Podlesna, had her home raided by police after circulating the same image, which is based on the Mother of God of Czestochowa painting. Prior to police raiding her home, where they found copies of the image, she had placed the image around the city of Plock in public places, including areas near St Dominik鈥檚 church.
Prior to this, Podlesna had been on an international trip with Amnesty International.
听Amnesty International鈥檚 regional Europe Researcher Barbora Cernusakova 鈥済iven the lack of evidence of a crime here, we can only see that El偶bieta has been detained for her peaceful activism.鈥�
According to , Amnesty International also stated in 2019 that 鈥淎mnesty International calls on the Polish authorities to stop harassing peaceful protesters and activists in Poland, including by arbitrarily arresting people who stand up for their rights. Restricting activists from freely expressing their views in the country is unlawful and must stop immediately.鈥�
This comes as in response to the proposed abortion ban, which will further restrict laws around abortion in Poland, where they are already more strict than many countries in Europe. The ruling on the proposed abortion plan has been delayed as a result of the protests.
Poland鈥檚 Interior Minister Joachim Brudzinski has previously the 鈥渆fficient action鈥� taken by police when they raided Podlesna鈥檚 home in 2019, stating that 鈥渘o fairy tale about freedom and ‘tolerance’ gives ANYONE the right to offend the feelings of believers.鈥�
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