The EU legislature made the decision in a vote on Thursday, Polish state news agency PAP reported.
The European Parliament lifted the immunity of Polish MEPs Beata Kempa, Beata Mazurek, Patryk Jaki and Tomasz Poręba, public broadcaster Polish Radio's IAR news agency reported.
The move follows accusations from activist Rafał Gaweł, the founder of the Centre for Monitoring Racist and Xenophobic Behaviour, according to PAP.
Gaweł in 2021 brought charges against the four MEPs before a Warsaw court, alleging that they had violated Article 256 of the Penal Code, which pertains to incitement to hatred, according to reports.
The activist said that the four politicians had "committed racist crimes on the territory of Poland," by liking or sharing a Law and Justice pre-election social media spot, warning against the migration policies of the rival liberal Civic Platform (PO) party, ahead of Poland's 2018 local elections.
The court in Warsaw requested that the European Parliament lift the immunities of the four MEPs, the PAP news agency reported.
Thursday's vote by EU lawmakers came after the European Parliament's Legal Committee approved the move earlier this week.
The four MEPs argue that the accusations against them are "an attack on freedom of speech" and that their actions were "within the bounds of freedom of public dialogue."
The man behind the accusations, Rafał Gaweł, was convicted of financial fraud by a Polish court a few years ago, according to the IAR news agency. He now lives in Norway where he was granted political asylum, it reported.
(pm/gs)
Source: IAR, PAP, BNN
