The hearing began shortly after 9 a.m., with Braun immediately requesting the removal of both the presiding judge and the prosecutor – motions dismissed as delaying tactics, Polish state news agency PAP reported.
After a three-hour recess, another judge rejected the request to exclude the presiding judge; the motion concerning the prosecutor was forwarded to the prosecution service.
Prosecutor Artur Wańdoch formally read the indictment shortly after 1 p.m.
The court then reviewed Braun’s previously submitted explanations from the investigation, followed by his own testimony.
Retaining the right to respond to all questions, Braun pleaded not guilty and framed the case as politically motivated.
Braun’s defence contested the charges, arguing that his actions were within the scope of his parliamentary mandate.
Lawyers representing the institutions listed as victims told the court that much of Braun’s narrative bore little relevance to the legal substance of the case.
Outside the courthouse, a group of supporters gathered, carrying Polish flags, banners and slogans, signalling continued mobilisation of Braun’s base.
Far-right Polish MEP Grzegorz Braun (second from right, wearing an eye patch) arrives at the Warsaw-Praga South District Court on Monday, as his trial begins over a 2023 incident in which he extinguished Hanukkah candles inside the Polish parliament. Photo: Marcin Jabłoński (PAP)
Multiple charges
On December 12, 2023, during a Hanukkah ceremony in the parliament lobby, Braun used a fire extinguisher to put out the candles on a menorah, triggering outrage and prompting security guards to evacuate the area.
The parliamentary session was suspended and Braun was excluded from further proceedings that day.
Authorities subsequently opened a criminal case.
In January 2024, while Braun was still a member of the Polish lower house, MPs voted to lift his national parliamentary immunity, allowing prosecutors to proceed with charges related to the Hanukkah incident – the first of several allegations the court will examine.
Prosecutors say Braun not only extinguished ceremonial candles, offending the religious feelings of Jewish participants, but also directed the extinguisher’s powder toward a woman involved in maintaining order, who suffered a minor injury.
Additional charges concern a 2022 confrontation at the National Institute of Cardiology in Warsaw, where Braun and several associates entered the hospital during COVID-19 restrictions and allegedly barged into a management meeting, assaulting director Łukasz Szumowski.
A further charge against Braun follows events at the German Historical Institute in 2023, where he is accused of damaging equipment and disrupting a Holocaust lecture.
The indictment also includes an incident involving the damaging of a Christmas tree in the Kraków District Court in southern Poland later that year.
What happens next
The court adjourned Monday’s session at around 3:30 p.m., the PAP news agency reported.
Braun is set to continue his testimony on January 12.
Eight witnesses are scheduled to appear later next month, focusing first on the parliamentary events two years ago.
While the case is legally complex and politically fraught, analysts say it will also test the judiciary’s ability to navigate disputes over judicial legitimacy – an issue Braun invoked when he called the presiding judge a "neo-judge," a term used in Poland’s ongoing debate over controversial post-2017 judicial appointments.
Controversies galore
The proceedings unfold against the backdrop of earlier controversies involving Braun, whose actions and rhetoric have drawn accusations of antisemitism and placed him at the centre of debates about the boundaries of political expression.
In May 2025, the European Parliament lifted Braun’s immunity, enabling prosecution.
A second vote followed on November 13, when his immunity was again revoked, clearing the way for new charges.
During his presidential campaign earlier this year, Braun attempted to make a "citizen’s arrest" of a doctor performing legal abortions: he allegedly detained, pushed and verbally abused the doctor, and publicly slandered her.
The controversial politician is also at the centre of several other incidents, including the destruction of an LGBT+ exhibit in parliament, theft of Ukrainian and EU flags from public buildings, and defamatory remarks during a televised debate about Holocaust remembrance.
Separately, Poland’s Institute of National Remembrance (IPN) has launched an investigation into Braun's alleged Holocaust denial.
In a July 10 radio interview, he questioned whether mass killings occurred in the gas chambers at Auschwitz, a serious offence under Polish law.
(ał/gs)
Source: PAP, IAR