During the conference, Shmid announced that he was resigning from his position as a judge and asked the Belarusian authorities to provide him with protection.
Polish soldier Emil Čechko also fled to Belarus in 2021, asking for asylum. The following year, Belarusian authorities announced that he had been found dead, hanged in his home in Belarus.
In 2019, it was revealed that a group of judges, including Schmidt, ran an online smear campaign against judges, prosecutors and others who opposed the policies of the government at the time. This group was probably coordinated by the Deputy Minister of Justice, Lukasz Piebjaks.
The event, dubbed a “hate operation” by Polish media, used social media accounts, including one run by Schmidt’s then-wife Emilie, to smear opponents.
Emily later became a whistleblower who leaked information about this operation to the media. In 2022, Schmidt himself admitted his role in this campaign to the news portals “Onet” and “OKO.press” and apologized for it.
Relations between Poland and Belarus have been strained in recent years. In 2020, Poland began accepting Belarusian refugees, suppressing protests against Lukashenko’s declared victory in the presidential election. The government strongly supported the democratic opposition of Belarus.
From 2021, Belarus began helping tens of thousands of migrants and refugees – mainly from the Middle East, Asia and Africa – try to cross the Polish border in what the Polish government and EU authorities called a “hybrid attack”.
Since the Russian invasion of Ukraine, which took place with the support of Belarus, the tension between Warsaw and Minsk has further escalated.
