TALLINN, Estonia (AP) — Belarus has granted asylum to a former Polish judge who faced espionage charges at home following his defection in May to the Kremlin-allied country.
A decree published Friday by Alexander Lukashenko, Belarus’ autocratic president, described Tomasz Szmydt as being “prosecuted for political reasons” in Poland. The country is an EU and NATO member that has lent vocal support to Ukraine in its war against Russian aggression.
Szmydt’s defection to Belarus in May trained the focus on Poland as a key target for Russian intelligence activity and ignited a bitter political row over the circumstances of his rapid ascent through the ranks of the Polish justice system.
Poland’s prosecutors and special services launched an investigation the same month after Belarus media reported that Szmydt arrived in the country and asked for protection. Warsaw responded days later by putting Szmydt on a wanted list, a step toward an international arrest warrant on spying allegations that would restrict his ability to travel internationally.
Polish officials have been working to determine how harmful Szmydt’s knowledge of any classified information might be to the interests of Warsaw and its Western allies. Poland’s Prime Minister Donald Tusk has publicly called him a traitor.
Szmydt fled to Belarus after resigning from his post as a judge at the Warsaw Administrative Court, saying in a public statement that he was doing so in protest against Poland’s “harmful and unjust” policy toward Belarus and Russia. A short time later, he appeared at a press conference in Belarus, praising Lukashenko’s regime and presenting himself as a victim of repression.
A Polish court later that month lifted Szmydt’s immunity, allowing him to be tried in absentia for spying allegations that he has denied.
Szmydt was notorious in Poland for having engaged in a 2019 online smear campaign against other judges that was sponsored by the Justice Ministry under the previous right-wing government. Three years later, he appeared to switch sides, appearing in a TV documentary to expose what he said was unethical behavior by judges close to the ruling party.
Szmydt’s defection came as a shock in Poland, which has a history of distrust of Russia.
Belarus has been one of the Kremlin’s few close allies since Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, and Lukashenko has relied on Moscow's subsidies and support. In return, he has allowed Moscow to use Belarusian territory to send troops and weapons into the neighboring state, and to deploy tactical nuclear weapons on Belarusian soil.
Authorities in Minsk have been ratcheting up repressive measures ahead of a presidential election in January in which the strongman leader is seeking a seventh term, including by arresting hundreds of people who have shown solidarity with Kyiv.
Authorities responded to massive protests following the widely disputed 2020 election of Lukashenko with a wide-ranging crackdown in which about 65,000 people were arrested. Major opposition figures were either imprisoned or fled the country, and human rights activists say Belarus is holding about 1,300 political prisoners.
FILE - Belarus President Alexander Lukashenko speaks during a plenary session at the COP29 U.N. Climate Summit, Tuesday, Nov. 12, 2024, in Baku, Azerbaijan. (AP Photo/Rafiq Maqbool)
Scott Turner, President-elect Donald Trump choice to lead the Department of Housing and Urban Development, is a former NFL player who ran the White House Opportunity and Revitalization Council during Trump’s first term.
Turner, 52, is the first Black person selected to be a member of the Republican's Cabinet.
Here are some things to know about Turner:
Turner grew up in a Dallas suburb, Richardson, and graduated from the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. He was a defensive back and spent nine seasons in the NFL beginning in 1995, playing for the Washington Redskins, San Diego Chargers and Denver Broncos.
During offseasons, he worked as an intern then-Rep. Duncan Hunter, R-Calif. After Turner retired in 2004, he worked full time for the congressman. In 2006, Turner ran unsuccessfully as a Republican in California’s 50th Congressional District.
Turner joined the Texas House in 2013 as part of a large crop of tea party-supported lawmakers. He tried unsuccessfully to become speaker before he finished his second term in 2016. He did not seek a third term.
Turner also worked for a software company in a position called “chief inspiration officer” and said he acted as a professional mentor, pastor, and councilor for the employees and executive team. He has also been a motivational speaker.
He and his wife, Robin Turner, founded a nonprofit promoting initiatives to improve childhood literacy. His church, Prestonwood Baptist Church, lists him as an associate pastor. He is also chair of the center for education opportunity at America First Policy Institute, a think tank set up by former Trump administration staffers to lay the groundwork if he won a second term.
Trump introduced Turner in April 2019 as the head of the new White House Opportunity and Revitalization Council. Trump credited Turner with “helping to lead an Unprecedented Effort that Transformed our Country’s most distressed communities.”
The mission of the council was to coordinate with various federal agencies to attract investment to so-called “Opportunity Zones," which were economically depressed areas eligible to be used for the federal tax incentives.
HUD is responsible for addressing the nation’s housing needs. It also is charged with fair housing laws and oversees housing for the poorest Americans, sheltering more than 4.3 million low-income families through public housing, rental subsidy and voucher programs.
The agency, with a budget of tens of billions of dollars, runs a multitude of programs that do everything from reducing homelessness to promoting homeownership. It also funds the construction of affordable housing and provides vouchers that allow low income families pay for housing in the private market.
During the campaign, Trump focused mostly on the prices of housing, not public housing. He railed against the high cost of housing and said he could make it more affordable by cracking down on illegal immigration and reducing inflation. He also said he would work to reduce regulations on home construction and make some federal land available for residential construction.
FILE - Scott Turner, the executive director of the White House Opportunity and Revitalization Council, speaks during a listening session with African-American leaders, May 21, 2020, in Ypsilanti, Mich. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon, File)
FILE - Scott Turner, the executive director of the White House Opportunity and Revitalization Council, attends a meeting in the Cabinet Room of the White House, May 18, 2020, in Washington. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci, File)
