Karol Nawrocki, the presidential candidate backed by the opposition Law and Justice (PiS) party, has responded to reports linking him to Grzegorz Horodko, an ex-convict and neo-Nazi activist known by the alias "Śledziu."
Nawrocki says he met Horodko while leading educational programs for inmates as an employee of the Institute of National Remembrance (IPN) at Gdańsk Remand Prison.
However, Onet.pl reports that Poland’s Prison Service disputes this statement, saying no such lectures took place at that facility between 2011 and 2017. Furthermore, Horodko was incarcerated at a different prison in Dobrowo near Koszalin (a city in northwestern Poland) during that period.
Horodko confirmed in media interviews that he met Nawrocki in prison but denied having a close relationship with him. Previously, he had publicly congratulated Nawrocki on his appointment as IPN president.
The Onet news portal still maintains that the Prison Service disputes this information, stating that no lectures organized by the Institute of National Remembrance (IPN) took place at that detention center during the previously mentioned timeframe.
IPN disputes prison service's statement on past lectures involving Nawrocki
IPN spokesperson Rafał Leśkiewicz addressed the issue in the afternoon, stating that the Gdańsk Prison Service's claim that IPN did not hold lectures at the Gdańsk detention center between 2011 and 2017 is false. He pointed out that in 2014, Karol Nawrocki and Daniel Wicenty gave a lecture titled "Sergiusz Piasecki: Smuggler, Intelligence Agent, Prisoner, Émigré, and Writer."
This is not the first time Nawrocki has been accused of being linked to suspected criminals and convicts. Earlier reports revealed his alleged ties to Patryk Masiak, known as "Wielki Bu," who has been accused of involvement in a pimping gang, as well as Olgierd L., who is currently in pretrial detention on criminal charges.
Nawrocki’s connection to neo-Nazi questioned after prison service dispute
After the publication of this report by Onet, a wave of comments flooded Polish social media, questioning Nawrocki’s version of events. MEP Dariusz Joński commented on Karol Nawrocki's explanation regarding his connection to a dangerous, repeat offender and Hitler sympathizer from Gdańsk.
In a post shared on X (formerly Twitter), Dariusz Joński referred to earlier reports about Nawrocki using a fabricated identity.
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Source: IAR/Onet.pl/X/@onetpl/@LeskiewiczRafa/@Dariusz_Jonski