By Athena Papakosta

Poland’s president seems determined not to give up the fight until two arrested lawmakers from the Law and Justice Party (PiS) are released. However, the country’s prime minister is also determined to restore the rule of law in the country.

The two PiS MPs are Mariusz Kaminski, who has served as interior minister, and Maciej Voisik. Kaminski has started a hunger strike while both – before they were arrested – were in the Presidential Palace of Poland under the protection of the country’s president, Andrzej Duda.

In 2007, Kaminski and Vojšić were convicted of abuse of power and both deny the charges, citing a 2015 pardon granted by right-wing President Andriy Duda, a PiS ally, that allowed them to serve in the last government.

However, last December, an appeals court ruled that both must serve two years in prison for the 2007 case, and a warrant was issued for their arrest on Monday.

Nevertheless, on Tuesday, Kaminski and Wojcik went to the Presidential Palace at the invitation of the Polish president to attend a swearing-in ceremony for two presidential advisers. Hours later and while they remained in the premises of the presidential palace, they made brief statements to journalists with Kaminski thanking the Polish president for his support and stressing that if they are arrested they will be political prisoners.

The fact that while a warrant was pending against them both were in the Presidential Palace, the Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk accused Douda of obstruction of justice.

According to Polish media, Kaminski and Wojcik were eventually arrested inside the presidential palace, with police not sharing more information.

When their arrest became known, hundreds of supporters of the PiS party gathered to protest outside the presidential palace shouting “Shame” and demanding their release.

At the moment, Mariusz Kaminski is continuing the hunger strike that began on the first day of his imprisonment as he treats his conviction as an act of political revenge.

The reaction of the Deputy Minister of Justice, Maria Earhart, was immediate, explaining that neither Kaminski nor Wojcik are political prisoners, before noting that every prisoner has the right to refuse food or water.

In a televised speech on Wednesday, Andrey Duda insisted that he will not rest until both PiS MPs are released and assessed that the granting of amnesty to those convicted in 2015 is in line with the Constitution while calling for calm in the country.

Donald Tusk, however, declares that he is determined to restore the rule of law in the country, accusing the Polish president of creating chaos and instability in Poland. In fact, he went one step further and at the press conference he gave on Tuesday, he read an article of the Criminal Code which Andrey Duda said he violated and his attitude could lead to a prison sentence of three months to five years.

Donald Tusk’s coalition government took office last December and pledged to reverse PiS policies and decisions in the Judiciary, state media and the public sector.

In fact, he began to excommunicate them and proceeded to expose them first from the state television, the state radio and the state news agency which, as the new government pointed out, had turned into mouthpieces of government propaganda.

However, there are not a few – such as the Helsinki Foundation for Human Rights – who, comparing the method followed by the new government, found similarities with the one implemented by the Law and Justice Party.

The former Prime Minister of Poland, Mateusz Morawiecki, speaking to the British BBC, said that Mr. Tusk’s government may have spoken passionately about democratic values, but in the end it turned out to be… few, with Tusk supporters accusing Morawiecki of hypocrisy.

The country is divided and the political war between the country’s president and its prime minister has been on multiple fronts since the day Tusk took office, but their conflict is deepening and Poland is at risk of plunging into chaos.