The European Union parliament on Tuesday lifted the legal immunity of extreme right wing Polish deputy Grzegorz Braun who could now face criminal proceedings for denying the existence of the Holocaust.
The target of several investigations for provocative acts and comments, Braun risks new trouble as Poland's far-right parties gear up for a general election next year when they could claim more seats.
Braun, 59, has been a European deputy since 2024. Polish prosecutors called on the parliament to lift the immunity of the Polish Crown Confederation (KKP) party in February.
He was accused of denying, during a 2025 radio interview, the existence of the Holocaust and gas chambers at the Nazi German Auschwitz-Birkenau concentration camp in what is now modern day Poland.
More than one million people were killed at Auschwitz during World War II and some six million Jews died during the Holocaust.
Under Polish law, a jail term of up to three years can be ordered for the public denial of Nazi atrocities, communist crimes, crimes against humanity, or war crimes.
Braun's immunity has already been lifted for investigations into the extinguishing of Jewish candles in the Polish parliament with a fire extinguisher, destroying an exhibition on the LGBTQ commmunity and attacks on Ukrainian and European symbols.
His KKP and the far right Confederation party could play a crucial role in deciding the government after elections next year. The KKP scores about eight percent in opinion polls and the Confederation 13 percent.
The lifting of immunity by the EU parliament is not a finding of guilt, it merely allows an investigation and potential proceedings.
