WARSAW, Poland (AP) — Poland’s lawmakers voted Wednesday to lift the immunity of a far-right colleague who used a fire extinguisher to put out Hanukkah candles during a ceremony in parliament last month.
The vote indicates that Federal Party MP Grzegorz Braun may face charges.
If convicted of destroying property, insulting a symbol, and causing harm to others, you face up to five years in prison. Prosecutors are due to bring Braun on seven charges that also apply to past incidents of alleged attacks on the former health minister and public property.
Lawmakers voted to lift immunity on one of the seven counts.
The incident last month was an embarrassment to the new parliament, which was in its first session following October elections, and to the new pro-European Union government that would be sworn in the next day.
At a Hanukkah ceremony, Braun grabbed a fireplace fire extinguisher and blew out the menorah’s candles. A member of the Jewish network sprayed and was injured in the incident and hospitalized.
Minutes later, Braun made a brief statement from the parliament lectern while the leader of his party, Krzysztof Bosak, was presiding. The party later condemned Braun’s statement.
MPs voted on Wednesday to allow Bosak to retain his post as deputy speaker of parliament, saying the component would be represented at that level, but the vast majority abstained or did not participate in the vote.
The Hanukkah rite was peacefully repeated two days later, with the participation of President Andrzej Duda, a sign that anti-Semitism would not be allowed.
Braun was fined by the parliamentary government in December.