Polish writer faces prison for calling Polish President Duda a 'moron'

A Polish writer is facing up to three years in prison for calling President Andrzej Duda a "moron" in a social media post.

Writer Jakub Zulczyk made the post in response to a congratulations Duda, an ally of former President Trump, extended to President Joe Biden after his victory last year, according to the Associated Press.

Zulczyk said Monday that a district prosecutor in Warsaw had filed an indictment against him based on an article in the penal code that makes it a crime to insult the head of state. (Though prison is a possibility, a fine or community service is the most likely punishment.)

The congratulations by Zulczyk was in a tweet that followed much of the U.S. news media calling the election for Biden and that seemed to suggest a qualified congratulations.

Duda offered his congratulations to Biden "for a successful presidential campaign. As we await the nomination by the Electoral College, Poland is determined to upkeep high-level and high-quality PL-US strategic partnership for an even stronger alliance," also according to the wire service. 

Meanwhile, other European leaders were offering full-fledged congratulations to Biden, while Duda was being criticized in Poland for suggesting that Biden’s victory was not definitive and that the Electoral College could still somehow change the result.

Zulczyk posted on Facebook that as someone with a master’s degree in American studies, he had never heard of a “nomination by the Electoral College” in the U.S. system. He said the Democratic candidate had clearly won the election.

"Joe Biden is the 46th president of the United States. Andrzej Duda is a moron," he wrote.

Prosecutors said they made their indictment based on the complaint of a private individual, and it was unclear if Duda had been informed about it, the wire service also reports.