A demonstration is scheduled for Monday, July 27, at 2:30 p.m. outside the prosecutor’s office at Taras Shevchenko Square in Warsaw. The protest was called by Adam Borowski, the Social Ombudsman for Civil Rights and chairman of the Warsaw Gazeta Polska Club. According to the organizers, the protest is a response to the allegedly unlawful seizure of the bank accounts of the Niezależne Media Foundation.
According to Tomasz Sakiewicz, CEO of TV Republika, the Chancellery of the Prime Minister unlawfully seized the accounts of the Niezależne Media Foundation. He claims the action violated multiple legal provisions, including the alleged disregard of a complaint filed with the administrative court and the absence of legally required signatures on the decision authorizing the seizure of funds.
Sakiewicz argues that the move was a deliberate attack on independent media and on an election integrity monitoring project. He stressed that the Niezależne Media Foundation had spent years raising funds to support persecuted journalists and had also helped finance the development of TV Republika in the past.
Sakiewicz announced that, alongside Monday’s demonstration, several formal legal filings would be submitted. These include:
- a criminal complaint to the Warsaw District Prosecutor’s Office on Chocimska Street alleging the commission of criminal offenses, including abuse of power under Article 231 of the Polish Penal Code, against Jan Grabiec, Head of the Chancellery of the Prime Minister, and the head of the tax office,
- a motion requesting the full discontinuation of the enforcement proceedings, to be filed with the tax office,
- objections to the enforcement proceedings, to be submitted to the Chancellery of the Prime Minister through the tax office.
Monday Demonstration
According to Sakiewicz, the case involves serious violations of fundamental principles of the rule of law, including the constitutional principle of citizens’ trust in the state derived from Article 2 of the Polish Constitution, as well as the requirement that administrative proceedings be conducted in a manner that inspires public confidence in state authorities.
The foundation argues that the enforcement proceedings were initiated even though the funds identified in the enforcement order – which it claims contains formal defects, including the lack of a required signature – no longer constitute either a government grant or public funds. It maintains that on December 8, 2023, the Chancellery of the Prime Minister, acting as the creditor, formally approved the project’s completion and accepted the financial settlement without reservations. According to the foundation, this approval ended the legal status of the funds as a government grant.
The foundation also points out that its accounts were seized before the administrative court had ruled on its request to suspend enforcement of the decision. That request was included in a complaint filed with the Warsaw Voivodeship Administrative Court on June 20 of this year.
Sakiewicz announced that those responsible for what he described as the entire operation would face serious consequences. He emphasized that public officials who violate the law should not remain unpunished.
The demonstration called by Adam Borowski is scheduled to take place on Monday, July 27, at 2:30 p.m. outside the prosecutor’s office at Taras Shevchenko Square in Warsaw.