Espionage is a crime against the Republic of Poland, which the legislator has penalized in the Act of June 6, 1997, the Penal Code, from the very beginning of its existence. A good protected by Art. 130 of the Act is undeniably the external and internal security of the Republic of Poland, its sovereignty and independence, and defense capabilities in the event of an outbreak of an armed conflict.
In the face of the current geopolitical situation and the high risk of new armed conflicts, transmitting certain information to third party recipients may pose a real threat to fundamental goods from the point of view of the durability of the state. The legislator, being aware of the changing international security situation in our region, decided to introduce changes to the regulations currently in force in this area. The modifications concern primarily the threat of punishment – the legislator believes that applying a more severe penalty in this case is intended to serve a preventive function, discouraging such actions.
In the current wording of the Act, adopted by the Act of August 17, 2023 amending the Penal Code and certain other Acts, the basic type of the crime of espionage is:
Whoever takes part in the activities of foreign intelligence or acts on its behalf against the Republic of Poland shall be subject to the penalty of deprivation of liberty for a period of not less than 5 years.
The current penalty in this case ranged from one to 10 years of imprisonment and concerned only the situation of participating in the activities of foreign intelligence. In this case, the mere participation in the activities of foreign intelligence is punishable, and the perpetrator’s liability does not depend on the consequences of this activity. The amendment to the Act also modified the types of qualified crimes of espionage:
Art. 130 Penal Code
| wording of the provision | The wording adopted by the Act of August 17, 2023 |
|---|---|
| §2 Whoever, taking part in a foreign intelligence service or acting on its behalf, provides that intelligence with information the transmission of which may cause damage to the Republic of Poland, shall be subject to the penalty of deprivation of liberty for a period of not less than 3 years. | Whoever, taking part in the activities of a foreign intelligence service or acting on its behalf, provides that intelligence service with information the transmission of which may cause damage to the Republic of Poland, shall be subject to the penalty of deprivation of liberty for a period of not less than 8 years or life imprisonment. |
| §3 Whoever organizes or directs the activities of foreign intelligence services shall be subject to the penalty of deprivation of liberty for a term of not less than 5 years or the penalty of deprivation of liberty for 25 years. | Whoever organizes or directs the activities of foreign intelligence referred to in §1 shall be subject to the penalty of deprivation of liberty for a period of not less than 10 years or the penalty of life imprisonment. |
The exacerbation of the statutory threat is definitely visible. The mere declaration of readiness to act on behalf of a foreign intelligence service against the Republic of Poland, or the collection or storage of information in order to provide it to a foreign intelligence service, is punishable by imprisonment from 6 months to 8 years.
The legislator also decided to add a paragraph regarding conducting disinformation while participating in the activities of foreign intelligence or acting on its behalf:
Whoever, taking part in the activities of a foreign intelligence service or acting on its behalf, conducts disinformation, consisting in disseminating false or misleading information, with the aim of causing serious disruptions in the system or economy of the Republic of Poland, an allied state or an international organization of which the Republic of Poland is a member Poland or persuading a public authority of the Republic of Poland, an allied state or an international organization of which the Republic of Poland is a member to take or refrain from taking specific actions, shall be subject to the penalty of imprisonment for a period of not less than 8 years.
It is worth noting that, however, if the perpetrator voluntarily ceased further activity and disclosed to the body responsible for prosecuting crimes all the relevant circumstances of the committed act under Art. 130 § 1 and 2 of the Penal Code, the no-punishment clause of Art. 131 § 1 of the Penal Code However, the penalty for the crime specified in Art. 130 § 3 of the Penal Code a person who voluntarily ceased further activity and made significant efforts to prevent the intended prohibited act and disclosed all relevant circumstances of the committed act to the body responsible for prosecuting crimes will not be subject to the crime.
The above-mentioned changes in the regulations entered into force on October 1, 2023.
