Polish deputy justice minister resigns over judge-trolling scandal

WARSAW: Poland’s deputy justice minister Lukasz Piebiak stepped down on Tuesday after media reports that he allegedly took part in a hate campaign against judges critical of government judicial reforms.

The move comes just two weeks after another top member of the governing rightwing Law and Justice (PiS) party -- the speaker of parliament -- resigned over a flight expenses scandal, as the EU member gears up for an October general election.

"With a sense of responsibility for the success of the reforms that I worked hard on for four years, I am submitting my resignation to the justice minister," Piebiak, 42, said in a statement sent to the Polish news agency PAP.

On Monday, the Onet news website reported that Piebiak had allegedly communicated with a woman named "Emilia" over ways to discredit judges, including by anonymously spreading compromising information about them over social media and to the press.