MEPs lift immunity from Polish far-right leader charged with Holocaust denial

Por Daria Zakharova — POLITICOPolitics » POLITICO

Members of the European Parliament voted Tuesday to waive the parliamentary immunity of far-right MEP Grzegorz Braun, who is facing Holocaust denial charges in Poland.

Braun, who leads the ultranationalist Confederation of the Polish Crown (KKP) party, is accused of having denied the crimes of genocide committed by Nazi Germany in Auschwitz during a public debate in Warsaw in September 2025.

Braun was already charged with genocide denial in a separate case, after he said in a July 2025 radio interview that “Auschwitz, with its gas chambers is, unfortunately, a fake.” The offense carries a sentence of up to three years in prison. The European Parliament waived Braun’s immunity for this case last March, and he was formally charged in August.

The vote in Strasbourg on Tuesday clears the way for Polish authorities to pursue the additional case.

Braun reached a surprise fourth place in Poland’s 2025 presidential election, winning 6.3% of the vote. His KKP party is polling around 8% ahead of next year’s parliamentary election, suggesting that it could play a kingmaker’s role between the right-wing’s Law and Justice party and Prime Minister Donald Tusk’s ruling coalition.

The European Parliament has already waived Braun’s immunity multiple times over various allegations, including assaulting a doctor and extinguishing the candles of a menorah during a Hannukah celebration.

In a post on X after Tuesday’s vote, Braun joked that he’d lost track of how many cases his immunity had been lifted for. He did not immediately reply to a request for comment.

Fonte: POLITICOPolitics » POLITICO