Lepper insists on having his day in court despite parliamentary immunity

The Court of Appeal in Gdansk yesterday filed for the suspension of the parliamentary immunity of Samoobrona leader and deputy Sejm speaker Andrzej Lepper. In May Lepper was sentenced to sixteen months in jail for insulting President Aleksander Kwasniewski and two former deputy Prime Ministers, Leszek Balcerowicz and Janusz Tomaszewski. The charges related to comments made by Lepper in 1999, when he called Kwasniewski "the biggest do-nothing in Poland", Balcerowicz an "economic idiot", and Tomaszewski a "criminal". Lepper appealed against the original court ruling, and a second hearing was scheduled for November 27. In the meantime the Samoobrona leader has been elected to the Sejm, giving him protection from prosecution. Lepper has declared, however, that he will appear in court. "I suspend my immunity, as there is no removal procedure," he said. (Rzeczpospolita, p. A3) A.Z.