Overview

• Duda erased Bakiewicz’s community service obligation from a 2020 coercion conviction related to the intimidation of a demonstrator.
• Bakiewicz leads the Movement for the Defense of the Borders, whose volunteers conducted unauthorized migrant searches along the German frontier.
• The Polish Border Guard reinstated formal checks on July 7, which reduced but did not eliminate vigilante volunteers at crossing points.
• Civic Coalition leaders condemned the pardon as scandalous, while Law and Justice figures and president-elect Karol Nawrocki praised it as an endorsement of nationalist border defenses.
• Right-wing activists continue to circulate unverified claims that German authorities are transporting asylum seekers into Poland without proper entry procedures.