Waldemar Bonkowski, a former senator for Law and Justice who was convicted of abusing a dog with particular cruelty, may be released. The court agreed to allow the former politician to wear an electronic bracelet.
Waldemar Bonkowski started on July 5th serving a 3 month prison sentence in a prison. Its end date would be October 3rd.
Gdańsk District Court spokesman Judge Łukasz Zioła said the court had accepted Mr. application of electronic monitoring to Waldemar Bonkowski (he agreed to provide data).
The court noted that the convict has served more than half of the sentence and paid a fine of PLN 20,000. PLN to the Animal Welfare Society, and the sentence of one year of restriction of liberty and 30 hours of community service per month has not yet been applied. In addition, the convict has not been previously convicted and there are no new criminal cases pending against him, he is a person with a stable life and professional situation, runs a farm and is active in the local community. – explained Ziola. The man is expected to be released from custody in the next few hours. – he added.
In the court’s opinion, the crime committed by Bonkowski in 2021 was incidental and he is not a highly demoralized person. The prosecutor raised no objection to allowing the former senator to serve his sentence electronically.
In April, the Gdańsk District Court convicted the former senator of abusing a dog with particular cruelty. Bonkowski in March 2021 he was pulling the dog by a rope behind his carwhich was recorded by another driver. The animal did not survive.
In addition to the 3-month prison sentence, Bonkowski was also sentenced to, among other things, one year of community service. They remained there until the end of the trial. the senator pleaded not guilty. After the verdict, he claimed to have been the victim of a political campaign.
At the end of June Kościerzyna District Court issued arrest warrant for former PiS senatorbecause he did not show up to serve his sentence. He was arrested on July 5.
Waldemar Bonkowski in the 2015 parliamentary elections. won a seat in the Senate as a Law and Justice candidate. In February 2018, after a series of anti-Semitic entries on social media, PiS chairman Jarosław Kaczyński suspended him as a party member. Bonkowski became an unaffiliated senator.
In 2019, Bonkowski sought re-election to his own electoral committee, but he did not enter parliament.