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EU committee backs stripping far-right Polish MEP Braun of immunity

08.09.2026 09:20
The European Parliament's legal affairs committee has unanimously voted to recommend lifting the immunity of Grzegorz Braun, a far-right Polish MEP, over allegations of Holocaust denial and questioning the existence of gas chambers at Auschwitz.
Polish far-right MEP Grzegorz Braun, July 2026.
Polish far-right MEP Grzegorz Braun, July 2026.Photo: © European Union, 1998 – 2026, Attribution, via Wikimedia Commons

All 24 members backed the move.

Polish MEP Krzysztof Śmiszek, from the centre-left New Left party, told reporters it was rare for the legal affairs committee to be so unanimous in its assessment of an MEP's actions.

He said that even far-right and nationalist groups within the European Parliament (EP) appeared to find Braun's actions unacceptable, "given how traumatic the events of the Second World War remain for Europe and the world."

"No serious politician builds a career on denying what happened at Auschwitz-Birkenau and other concentration camps," Śmiszek said.

The request to strip Braun of his immunity was filed by Poland's Institute of National Remembrance (IPN).

A final decision now rests with the full European Parliament, which is expected to vote on the matter at its session in Strasbourg next week.

If approved, it would be the fifth time Braun has lost his immunity — each new set of allegations requires a fresh request from prosecutors, restarting the process in the EP from scratch.

Poland's prosecutors allege that in July 2025, in the towns of Jedwabne and Warsaw, Braun publicly questioned the existence of gas chambers at the former German Nazi concentration and extermination camp of Auschwitz-Birkenau, and their use for the mass killing of prisoners.

Auschwitz-Birkenau was the largest Nazi German concentration and extermination camp in occupied Poland.

More than 1.1 million people, mostly Jews, were murdered there during World War II.

(ał)

Source: IAR