When people become voiceless and powerless, it damages democracy and poisons politics. The freedom to criticize the government is therefore essential but a recent turn of events in Poland is raising concerns for citizens there. From the BBC:

A popular Polish writer and journalist could face up to three years in prison for calling President Andrzej Duda a “moron” in a Facebook post in November. Jakub Zulczyk accused Mr Duda of failing to understand the US electoral process in a tweet to Joe Biden.

Mr Duda’s tweet stopped short of recognising his victory, pending Electoral College confirmation, but hailed his “successful campaign”. Poland has made it a crime to insult state leaders and religion.

Read the full article here. Also, visit the main Democracy Chronicles section on World Democracy or our articles on Worldwide Corruption.