WARSAW, Poland (AP) — The Polish ruling celebration chief, Jarosław Kaczyński, has paid 50,000 zlotys ($11,500) for the wants of the Ukrainian military to settle a defamation case with a political rival.
Kaczyński was ordered by a court docket in December to pay Radek Sikorski greater than 700,000 zlotys ($162,000) to cowl the prices of publishing an apology for calling him a “diplomatic traitor.”
Kaczyński made the remark in 2016 in connection to the 2010 aircraft crash close to Smolensk, Russia, that killed Kaczynski’s twin brother, then-President Lech Kaczyński, and 95 others. Sikorski was international minister on the time of the catastrophe and is now a member of the European Parliament and an outspoken authorities critic.
Sikorski belongs to Civic Platform, a celebration that has been in opposition since 2015. Kaczyński has lengthy accused Civic Platform leaders of getting a job in his brother’s dying, a declare not substantiated by investigations so far.
Kaczyński mentioned the court docket’s penalty was so excessive that he must promote his home to pay it, and that even then he won’t have sufficient.
Sikorski replied by saying he believed “that the penalties for defamation must be extreme however not ruinous.” He mentioned if Kaczyński paid 50,000 zlotys for Ukraine’s armed forces he would chorus from demanding an apology.
Kaczynski mentioned in a press release on Tuesday that he had paid the cash.
“Right now Ukraine is combating for its independence and freedom, but additionally for our safety. We assist it and we’ll assist it. Because the cost to assist the fund for the Ukrainian Armed Forces closes my controversial dispute with Sikorski, I achieve this with satisfaction,” Kaczyński mentioned in a press release revealed on Twitter.
Sikorski mentioned he accepted that type of apology, including “I am glad we discovered a patriotic resolution.”
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