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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.
A court has confirmed that opposition leader Jarosław Kaczyński defamed a political rival when he justified the use of Pegasus spyware against him by saying he had committed “abhorrent crimes”. However, it deemed that the offence was “not socially harmful” and therefore discontinued the case.
The politician against whom Kaczyński made the accusation, Krzysztof Brejza, has declared the ruling “incomprehensible” and announced that he will appeal against it.
Wyrok w procesie Jarosława Kaczyńskiego z oskarżenia Krzysztofa Brejzy – 27 stycznia#PAPinformacje https://t.co/t32RQW1mgI
— PAP (@PAPinformacje) January 13, 2026
Last year, the government’s majority in parliament voted to strip Kaczyński of immunity to face defamation proceedings brought against him by Brejza, who is an MP from the centrist Civic Coalition (KO), Poland’s main ruling party.
The case against Kaczyński concerns testimony he gave to a parliamentary inquiry into the use of Pegasus spyware under the former PiS government. PiS was accused of using the tool to surveil political opponents, rather than those genuinely suspected of crimes.
One of those targeted was Brejza, whose phone was surveilled in 2019, when he was running KO’s parliamentary election campaign. Some of the material taken from his device was then leaked to and published by state broadcaster TVP, which was at the time a mouthpiece for the PiS government.
When asked about that issue by the parliamentary Pegasus inquiry, Kaczyński said that the purpose of surveilling Brejza had been to “show the public that a prominent opposition politician is committing very serious and abhorrent crimes”, reports the Gazeta Wyborcza.
However, Brejza has never been charged with, let alone convicted of, any crimes. He therefore filed a case against the PiS leader under article 212 of Poland’s criminal code, which makes defamation a crime punishable by up to one year in prison.
On Tuesday, the Warsaw-Śródmieście district court announced that it had discontinued the case against Kaczyński, finding that, despite his words constituting defamation, they were “not socially harmful to an extent that exceeds the limits of criminal liability”.
Kaczyński “was aware that Mr Brejza had never been convicted or charged”, said judge Tomasz Trębicki, quoted by the Dziennik Gazeta Prawna daily. “He should not have publicly claimed that Mr Brejza had committed a crime.”
However, the judge noted that, for someone to be convicted of a crime, it must be shown that their actions were socially harmful. That bar was not met in this case.
Trębicki also argued that Kaczyński’s comments should be understood in context: they were “not a standalone thesis” presented by him, “but a statement constructed in response to a question” presented during an inquiry hearing.
A commission investigating the use of Pegasus spyware by Poland's former government has called Jarosław Kaczyński as the first witness
"This commission will establish the people responsible for violating the principles of democracy," says the chairwomanhttps://t.co/hvrmNnxnPU
— Notes from Poland 🇵🇱 (@notesfrompoland) February 19, 2024
Afterwards, Brejza’s lawyer, Dorota Brejza, who is also his wife, called the judge’s ruling “completely incomprehensible on a human level” and confirmed that they would appeal. “You cannot [be allowed to] disinform, lie or inject venom into the public space.”
Krzysztof Brejza, meanwhile, told broadcaster TVN that “words are one step ahead of actions”, and pointed to the example of former party colleague Paweł Adamowicz, the mayor of Gdańsk, who was murdered after he had been regularly accused by certain politicians and media outlets of crimes.
Kaczyński and his legal representatives have not yet commented on the ruling. On Wednesday, PiS spokesman Rafał Bochenek confirmed media reports that Kaczyński is currently in hospital receiving treatment for an unspecified infection.
Kłamstwa i pomówienia J. Kaczyńskiego, to nie jest żadna "nikła szkodliwość społeczna". Słowo idzie krok przed czynem, choćby takim jak zamordowanie Pawła Adamowicza. Szkoda że sąd nie wziął tego pod uwagę umarzając sprawę JK.@Dorota_Brejza #bitwaoprawdę pic.twitter.com/8kO4o8e7JY
— Krzysztof Brejza (@krzysztofbrejza) January 28, 2026
After PiS was removed from power in December 2023, the new government, a coalition led by KO, launched a number of investigations into the use of Pegasus by the former administration.
In 2024, it revealed that around 600 people were targeted for surveillance using Pegasus, including some political opponents of PiS. Last year, KO leader and Prime Minister Donald Tusk revealed that his wife and daughter had been among those caught up in the surveillance.
Meanwhile, in December 2023, a court ordered TVP to apologise to Brejza and pay him 200,000 zloty in compensation for publishing private messages taken from his phone using Pegasus.
A politician whose phone was surveilled with Pegasus spyware has won an apology and 200,000 zloty compensation from state TV, which published his private messages.
The former PiS government was accused of using Pegasus against opponents to discredit them https://t.co/xHzSzqFKy3
— Notes from Poland 🇵🇱 (@notesfrompoland) December 18, 2023
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.
Image credits: Sławek Kasper/IPN (under CC BY-SA 4.0)
Daniel Tilles is editor-in-chief of Notes from Poland. He has written on Polish affairs for a wide range of publications, including Foreign Policy, POLITICO Europe, EUobserver and Dziennik Gazeta Prawna.
