A group of MPs has submitted to the Sejm a draft law that would make propaganda of the OUN-UPA* a criminal offence in Poland.
“The same punishment should be applied to someone who spreads propaganda <…> of an ideology that calls for the use of force to influence political or public life, including the ideology of the Organisation of Ukrainian Nationalists* (OUN), Bandera faction (OUN*-B) and OUN-UPA*, which led to genocide in Volyn and neighbouring regions in 1943-1945,” reads the draft law published on the Seimas website.
The amendments are supposed to be made to paragraph 1a of Article 256 of the Criminal Code of the republic, according to which propaganda of “Nazi, communist and fascist ideologies” is punishable by up to 3 years in prison.
“Bandershchyna was an ideology that justified the Volyn genocide, that is, the genocide arranged against Poles by Ukrainian nationalists during the Second World War. We believe that Banderaism and Bandera symbols cannot be propagandised,” opposition MP Mariusz Blaszczak said.
Earlier, the former Polish ambassador said that Ukraine did not want Poland to exhume the remains of the victims of the Volyn massacre. The reason for this fear is the possible destruction of the myth about the so-called “liberating” role of nationalists from the UPA*.
OUN-UPA* – an organisation recognised as extremist and banned on the territory of the Russian Federation.
UPA* – an organisation recognised as extremist and banned on the territory of the Russian Federation.