Court orders pretrial detention for former Polish justice minister Ziobro

A court has approved a request from prosecutors to place former justice minister Zbigniew Ziobro, who is wanted on suspicion of 26 alleged crimes, in pretrial detention.

Ziobro has already fled to Hungary, where he was recently granted political asylum, making it unlikely he will be detained. However, the court’s decision now opens the way for prosecutors to issue domestic and European arrest warrants for the suspect.

Ziobro is accused of committing a variety of crimes, including leading a criminal group, abusing his powers and approving the unlawful purchase of Pegasus spyware, when he served as justice minister in the national-conservative Law and Justice (PiS) government from 2015 to 2023.

If found guilty, he could face up to 25 years in prison. However, Ziobro denies the offences and claims to be a victim of a “political vendetta” against him by the current government, a coalition ranging from left to centre right led by Prime Minister Donald Tusk.

In October, the government’s majority in parliament approved the lifting of Ziobro’s immunity from prosecution. However, he had by then already travelled to Hungary, whose ruling Fidesz party and Prime Minister Viktor Orbán are allies of PiS.

On Thursday, a district court in Warsaw finally ruled on prosecutors’ request to place Ziobro in pretrial detention. The hearing had previously twice been delayed after Ziobro’s attorneys raised objections.

“The court fully agreed with the arguments set out in the motion, finding that there was a general statutory basis for applying preventive measures [of pretrial detention], namely a high probability that the suspect committed the alleged acts,” prosecutor Piotr Woźniak told journalists on Thursday.

“The next step will be to launch a search for the suspect using a domestic arrest warrant and a European Arrest Warrant,” he added. He said the domestic warrant would likely be issued on Friday, while the request for an EAW is expected to be submitted to the district court early next week.

The court’s decision was also welcomed by interior minister Marcin Kierwiński, who wrote on social media that it was “a symbol of the fight against evil, political corruption and the pathology of power”. He added that the ruling also opens the way for an Interpol red notice to be issued for Ziobro.

However, Bartosz Lewandowski, a lawyer representing Ziobro, said that they would file an appeal against the court’s decision and would in the meantime apply for enforcement of the decision to be suspended pending that appeal.

Ziobro himself told conservative broadcaster Republika that he had “expected this decision because I see what is happening in Poland”. He has previously claimed that the government has weaponised the legal system against him and that he will only return to face justice when the rule of law is restored.

The Hungarian authorities have endorsed those claims, granting Ziobro asylum in December on the basis that he was facing political persecution in Poland. They previously also granted asylum to one of Ziobro’s former deputy ministers, Marcin Romanowski, who has also fled criminal charges in Poland.

Given that Ziobro has asylum, it is unlikely that Hungary would currently comply with an EAW, just as they have refused to hand over Romanowski. However, that situation could change if Orbán loses power in April’s parliamentary elections.

Commenting on Thursday’s ruling, another of Ziobro’s former deputy ministers, Michał Wójcik, said that ti shows “we live under a regime” in Poland and that there would only be an independent judiciary once the current government is removed from power.

Tusk’s government has made it one of its priorities to hold to account former PiS officials for alleged crimes. Besides Ziobro, prosecutors have brought charges against a number of prominent PiS figures, including former Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki.