The prosecution has imposed a fine of 3,000 złoty on Tomasz Sakiewicz, the president of TV Republika, for allegedly “groundlessly refusing to testify.” The case concerns questioning that took place on May 20, although the prosecution’s statement incorrectly lists the date as May 19. Earlier, Sakiewicz stated that he had declared his “full readiness to testify” if he were “summoned by a legally appointed prosecutor.”
“By decision dated May 25, 2026, the prosecutor imposed a financial penalty of 3,000 złoty on witness Tomasz Sakiewicz in connection with the groundless refusal to provide testimony during questioning on May 19, 2026,” the prosecution said in its statement.
The statement added that “Tomasz Sakiewicz was summoned to the National Prosecutor’s Office to provide testimony in an investigation concerning irregularities in the Justice Fund, regarding circumstances related, among other things, to the possible employment of suspect Zbigniew Ziobro by a joint-stock company in which the witness serves as president of the management board.”
The prosecution further claimed that “during the questioning, Tomasz Sakiewicz refused to answer the prosecutor’s questions without raising any circumstances that would justify the right to refuse testimony or to decline answering questions.” “The issues raised concerned, among other things, the person of the prosecutor and the correctness of the summons,” the statement reads.
The prosecution’s decision may be appealed in court.
“Collapse of legal knowledge”
The questioning concerned Sakiewicz’s appearance as a witness in a case involving, among others, Zbigniew Ziobro. However, after leaving the prosecutor’s office, the head of Republika stated that investigators had attempted to question him in a different matter.
“I declared my full readiness to testify if I am summoned by a legally appointed prosecutor and if the scope of the summons corresponds to the matter on which I am to be questioned. They wanted to question me in the case discussed by the leadership of the prosecutor’s office, but not the one that was the subject of the summons,” he said.
Addressing demonstrators gathered outside, Sakiewicz argued that “no one at the National Prosecutor’s Office is capable of drafting a proper summons.”
“This demonstrates either a complete collapse in knowledge of the law or a total lack of any need to respect the law. We are dealing with an unbelievable embarrassment for the prosecution service. It is astonishing that even while setting a trap for me here, they were unable to draft the summons correctly. This shows that the end of this system is approaching,” he stated.