Polish premier says he supports return of death penalty

By Jo Harper

WARSAW (AA) - Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki has said that he supports the return of capital punishment in Poland, according to his Twitter account.

“In general, I think that it should be rethought, (…) the death penalty should be allowed for the most serious crimes,” Morawiecki said in a Facebook chat with journalists on Monday evening.

“In this regard, I do not agree with the teaching of the Church,” he added.

A moratorium on the death penalty was introduced in Poland in 1992 and it was abolished in Poland in 1998. The last person to be executed was Andrzej Czabanski, who was hanged in April 1988 for the rape and murder of a woman and the attempted murder of her two daughters.

Most political parties in Poland are opposed to reintroducing the death penalty, though some members of the ruling Law and Justice (PiS), including former President Lech Kaczynski and some MPs from the opposition Citizens' Platform have supported the return of the death penalty if it is legalized in the EU.

The only party in parliament that supports bringing back the death penalty is Confederation, a right-wing party with which PiS is likely to be competing for votes at the parliamentary election later this year.