Polish opposition deputy leader indicted over disclosure of classified military plans

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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.

The deputy leader of Poland’s main opposition Law and Justice (PiS) party, Mariusz Błaszczak, has been indicted on charges of abusing his powers by disclosing classified military documents.

The indictment alleges that Błaszczak in 2023 abused his authority as defence minister to benefit the then-ruling PiS during their parliamentary election campaign. If found guilty, he could face up to ten years in prison.

Three other public officials were indicted alongside Błaszczak, who claims the case is politically motivated.

The case involves the publication of sections of Poland’s military plans from when Civic Platform (PO) were previously in power. Błaszczak claimed they showed how the former PO administration had planned to give up half of Poland if Russia invaded. When he published the plans, PO were the main opposition party.

Prosecutors argued that by doing so, Błaszczak “acted to the detriment of the public interest and caused exceptionally serious damage to the Republic of Poland”.

They said that Błaszczak sought to “achieve personal gain” through “the use of excerpts of strategic-level operational planning documents taken out of context in order to publicly discredit his political opponents and thereby promote his political party”.

Prosecutors added that Błaszczak’s decision to declassify a top-secret document had negative consequences for “the internal and external security of the Republic of Poland, political stability, public trust and Poland’s position on the international stage.”

In addition to Błaszczak, three other individuals were indicted in the case, including Sławomir Cenckiewicz, the top security advisor to the new opposition-aligned President Karol Nawrocki.

“Without the actions and initiative of these individuals, the declassification and subsequent disclosure of excerpts from strategic-level operational planning documents would not have taken place,” prosecutors said.

They accuse Cenckiewicz of abusing his authority as the then director of the Military History Office by helping facilitate the unlawful declassification of military documents and of using the materials for personal gain in the television series Reset, which he co-created.

Błaszczak, who served as defence minister from 2018 until 2023, when PiS were replaced in power by a new coalition led by Donald Tusk, dismissed the case as politically motivated.

“This is not an indictment, but an act of revenge by Donald Tusk against me that has been brought before the court,” he wrote on X. “This is the price I am paying for revealing the plans of the first PO-PSL government to surrender almost half of Poland without a fight.”

Cenckiewicz similarly claimed that the case was “purely political and driven by revenge“, adding that he was “pleased” that he would now be able “to defend myself in court under the conditions laid down by law”.

“I was and am innocent! I have never broken the law!” he wrote on X.

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: MON (under CC BY-NC-ND 3.0 PL)

Alicja Ptak

Alicja Ptak is senior editor at Notes from Poland and a multimedia journalist. She previously worked for Reuters.