Warsaw: Former Polish Defense Minister Mariusz Blaszczak was indicted for disclosing Poland’s classified defense plan, a charge that carries a prison sentence of one to 10 years, prosecutors said Friday. Blaszczak, who spent four hours at Warsaw’s Regional Prosecutor’s Office, dismissed the accusations as baseless, Poland’s PAP news agency reported.
According to Anadolu Agency, Blaszczak stated, “I had both the right and the duty to reveal the archived documents,” after leaving the building. The indictment follows the removal of Blaszczak’s parliamentary immunity on March 6, which paved the way for legal action against him for declassifying and publicly releasing parts of the WARTA-00101 defense plan in 2023.
The defense plan was drafted to counter a potential Russian invasion, outlining a strategy where Polish forces would retreat to the Vistula River in the event of an attack by Moscow. On September 18, 2023, Blaszczak posted a video on X showing documents that allegedly revealed the Tusk administration’s
plan to defend Poland only from the Vistula River line in Warsaw.
Prosecutors argue that Blaszczak’s actions violated laws protecting classified information. Although the documents were stored in the Military Historical Office, they remained under statutory protection. The former minister faced backlash for leaking ‘top secret’ military documents during an election campaign.