FILE - This March 24, 2016, file photo shows Mateusz Kijowski, then leader of the Committee for the Defense of Democracy, a civic anti-government movement, in Warsaw. Polish prosecutors have filed charges against the former leader of the civic group Tuesday, March 6, 2018. Prosecutors accused Mateusz Kijowski, and former treasurer Piotr Chabora of illegally appropriating 121,000 zlotys ($35,000) from the organization, a crime punishable by up to eight years of prison. (AP Photo/Czarek Sokolowski)
March 06, 2018 - 6:42 AM
WARSAW, Poland - Polish prosecutors have filed fraud charges against the former leader of an anti-government organization who led a string of street protests starting in 2015.
Prosecutors on Tuesday accused Mateusz Kijowski, the former head of the Committee for the Defence of Democracy, as well as former treasurer Piotr Chabora, of illegally appropriating 121,000 zlotys ($35,000) from the organization, a crime punishable by up to eight years of prison.
Kijowski helped found the group in 2015 to fight judicial changes he and supporters see as anti-democratic. He stepped down after the allegations of financial wrongdoing came to light in 2017.
Kijowski, a computer specialist, says he is targeted for his political activism and that the money he took was for computer work rendered to the organization.
News from © The Associated Press, 2018