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Warsaw to Abolish Criminal Penalty for Saying Poland Aided in Holocaust

© AFP 2023 / VASILY MAXIMOVInternational Holocaust Remembrance Day at the Jewish Museum in Moscow. (File)
International Holocaust Remembrance Day at the Jewish Museum in Moscow. (File) - Sputnik International
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WARSAW (Sputnik) - Criminal punishment of up to three years of imprisonment for accusations against Poland and its people in Holocaust complicity will be abolished starting from July 17.

The amendments were published by the official newspaper on Monday and the document will enter into effect after 14 days of its official release — on July 17.

Both chambers of the Polish parliament have approved the amendments on Wednesday, excluding the criminal penalty from the controversial law. Polish President Andrzej Duda signed a bill the same day.

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The controversial bill, passed on March 1, provoked diplomatic tensions with Israel, Ukraine and the United States.

Tel Aviv, in particular, was concerned that the law could trigger the prosecution of Holocaust survivors if they testify against individual Poles who allegedly killed or gave up Jews to the Nazis.

For its part, Warsaw had considered the bill as a way to protect Polish people from false accusations of complicity in the Holocaust.

Both the United States and Israel have welcomed Poland's decision to abolish the criminal punishment last week.

The law that outlaws any accusations against Poland of complicity in war crimes during World War II, including the Holocaust, as well as any denials that Ukrainians murdered Poles during the same period, and banished the Ukrainian nationalist ideology, officially came into force on March 1 after being approved by the Polish parliament and then signed by Polish President Andrzej Duda.

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