Pegasus inquiry committee requests 30-day detention of ex-justice minister

Jan 31, 2025 | Law, Media, Politics

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Notes from Poland is run by a small editorial team and is published by an independent, non-profit foundation that is funded through donations from our readers. We cannot do what we do without your support.

Polish police today forcibly brought to parliament Zbigniew Ziobro, who served as justice minister from 2015 to 2023 in the former Law and Justice (PiS) government, to testify before the committee investigating the use of Pegasus spyware under PiS.

However, as Ziobro had not arrived at the time allocated by the committee, it started its meeting without him, requested that he be detained for 30 days, and then ended the meeting.

Ziobro has previously ignored multiple summonses from the committee, citing, among other reasons, health grounds (he has been undergoing cancer treatment). Last month, parliament voted to forcibly bring him to testify.

On Monday, a Warsaw court ruled that he should be detained and forcibly brought before the committee. Ziobro said earlier this week that he would abide by police orders but not voluntarily testify.

However, when police arrived at Ziobro’s residence shortly after 6 a.m. this morning, they received no response after ringing the doorbell multiple times. A second attempt after 8 a.m. was also unsuccessful.

He later appeared in a live interview on a conservative television station and was apprehended outside the broadcaster’s headquarters a few minutes after 10.30 a.m., the planned starting time of the committee meeting.

Ziobro had appeared on the PiS-allied station Telewizja Republika, claiming that attending the inquiry committee would violate the law. He argues that the committee is unconstitutional, citing a Constitutional Tribunal (TK) ruling, which the Warsaw District Court has already rejected because of the disputed legitimacy of one TK judge’s appointment.

The former PiS government purchased Pegasus, an Israeli-made surveillance tool, for use by Poland’s Central Anti-Corruption Bureau (CBA). The spyware was deployed against nearly 600 individuals between 2017 and 2022, including political opponents.

After a new ruling coalition replaced PiS in power in late 2023, prosecutors launched investigations into the use of Pegasus under PiS and parliament set up a special committee to do the same.

PiS politicians have refused to appear before the panel, citing a ruling by the TK that deemed the committee unlawful. The current government, however, does not recognise the TK’s legitimacy and ignores its rulings.

 

Ziobro, who was abroad earlier this week, claimed from the beginning that he would return to Poland but would not voluntarily testify.

“I have consciously come here today so that no one can accuse me of being afraid of anything in the sphere of Pegasus or of actions related to the support of the CBA in the purchase of this system,” Ziobro told Telewizja Republika today.

“I do not have the slightest doubt that many serious crimes were not committed because the services had this instrument.”

Moments after 10.30 a.m., Ziobro emerged from the broadcaster’s studio and, after a brief statement to journalists, was led by police to a car and driven to the committee meeting, which had just started without him.

When Ziobro failed to appear, the committee invoked article 287 of the penal procedure code, which permits up to 30 days’ detention for witnesses who refuse to testify.

Deputy chairman Marcin Bosacki of Civic Coalition (KO) proposed a resolution requesting that the prosecutor general seek the Sejm’s approval for Ziobro’s detention as a disciplinary measure. The committee voted in favour of his proposal.

“Ziobro, a key witness, will not play with the state, with the police, with the public. The jokes are over. Enough of disrespecting the state,” said one of the committee’s members, Witold Zembaczyński of KO, quoted by broadcaster RMF.

Zembaczyński explained that he supported the request for 30-day detention and for the witness to remain at the disposal of the commission.

Another committee member, Przemysław Wipler of the far-right Confederation (Konfederacja), said in a video published on X that the request for Ziobro’s detention was made after the committee had found out that he was already in the parliament building.
“This shows the intention of what is going on here,” he said. “Nobody wanted to listen to anybody, it was just going to be a political circus, and this is what you will be fed all day long when there are much more important things going on in Poland.”

Last month, Ziobro’s former deputy, Marcin Romanowski, who is wanted on criminal charges in Poland, fled to Hungary, where he was granted asylum on the basis that he would not receive a fair trial in Poland.


Notes from Poland is run by a small editorial team and published by an independent, non-profit foundation that is funded through donations from our readers. We cannot do what we do without your support.

Main image credit: Adam Stepien / Agencja Wyborcza.pl

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