Poland is verifying if a Polish judge who had access to confidential information and asked for political asylum in Belarus had been spying, authorities said on Monday.

Polish prosecutors launched an investigation Monday into Judge Tomasz Szmydt, who fled to Belarus and made an appeal to be protected by its autocratic government.

Polish prosecutors Monday said they had opened an espionage probe after a judge fled to neighbouring Belarus and reportedly asked for asylum over spying allegations that he dismissed as "fabricated".Prosecutors wrote on X,

Tomasz Szmydt, a judge of the Voivodeship Administrative Court of Warsaw, has appeared at a press conference in Minsk declaring that he wants to stay in Belarus and will be applying for political asylum,