President Andrzej Duda said on Wednesday that a Polish court had ordered the force-feeding of a former minister who went on a hunger strike in prison, a case that has stirred emotions amid a conflict between the old and new administrations over the rule of law.

The President of Poland, Andrzej Duda, along with ex-Deputy Minister of the Interior Maciej Wasik and ex-Minister of the Interior Mariusz Kaminski, were sentenced to prison terms.Photo: President Palace/Jakub Szymczuk/AP/Profimedia

Former Polish Interior Minister Mariusz Kaminski and his deputy Maciej Wasik were detained at the presidential palace in Warsaw last week and sent to prison after being convicted of abuse of power, Reuters and Agerpres reported.

Two members of the former Law and Justice (PiS) government, which is allied with President Andrzej Duda, have gone on hunger strike after being imprisoned.

Poland’s conservative president, Andrzej Duda, announced last Thursday that he would begin the process of pardoning two lawmakers from his home party, Law and Justice (PiS), who were arrested by police at the presidential palace, where they took refuge and were promptly jailed for serving a two-year sentence.

The case is the latest in a political row between the new government of liberal pro-European Prime Minister Donald Tusk and the Law and Justice (PiS) party, which lost eight years of power after October elections. Both political camps accuse each other of violating the rule of law, justice and the press – the main topics of confrontation.

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