WARSAW
Franciszek Sterczewski, the Polish MP detained in Israel following an attack on the Gaza-bound Global Sumud Flotilla last week, has been fined by his ruling party, the Civic Coalition (PO), for “unexcused absence from parliamentary (Sejm) sessions,” local media reported on Thursday.
“The PO parliamentary group has imposed a financial penalty on Sterczerwski for unexcused absences from Sejm sessions,” the party’s disciplinary committee spokesman Tomasz Nowak told the Polish Press Agency. The amount was not disclosed.
“Any MP who fails to attend Sejm sessions and is not excused, meaning they have not provided a formal justification, is subject to a financial penalty,” he said.
Sterczewski has not attended Sejm sessions since September, when he sailed with the Global Sumud Flotilla, a global initiative comprised of hundreds of activists from various countries aimed at delivering humanitarian aid to the Gaza Strip and breaking Israel’s inhumane blockade.
The Israeli military attacked the ships while they were in international waters, only a few nautical miles from Gaza. The activists, including Sterczewski, were detained and then deported earlier this week.
Dorota Loboda, a spokesperson for the party’s parliamentary group, told Polish news outlet Wirtualna Polska that Sterczewski “was not on leave during the mission, nor did he seek permission from the club for his trip.”
She added that the politician informed the parliamentary group after he had already left Poland.
“He had the right to make the decision. He went there for a noble cause. Some people appreciate it, but there are MPs here who are extremely critical of what he did. He could have used other methods; MPs use various methods. And he didn’t tell anyone; he took a big risk,” a parliamentary group committee member told the news portal.
In an interview with the media portal, a person associated with PO who currently works at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs took a different stance, claiming that Sterczewski’s account of flotilla activists being mistreated in an Israeli prison was exaggerated.
“You know how it is to talk about someone being tortured or starved. There are several types of hunger strikes. So be careful with that narrative,” she said, adding: “Mr. Sterczewski went there on his own passport; we warned him not to do so, and we explained the consequences. But he and his colleagues ignored it.”
On Wednesday, after returning to Poland, Sterczewski said in interviews with Polish media that he and the other members of the Polish delegation of the flotilla had been “disappointed with the attitude of Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Radoslaw Sikorski.”
“Why did Minister Sikorski downplay the situation at a time when we were doing everything we could to end the genocide and draw the world’s attention to what was happening in the Gaza Strip? We are disgusted and disappointed,” he said, adding that while he did not expect Sikorski to resign, there could be “an immediate change in the Polish government’s policy.”
“We expect Minister Sikorski not to hold us accountable for trying to do everything in our power as civilians, as activists. We expect that if Sikorski can accuse Putin of his war crimes, we expect him to be consistent and accuse Benjamin Netanyahu of the same crimes, or even worse,” he added.