On Friday, Zbigniew Ziobro laid out three conditions under which he would immediately return to Poland. Waldemar Żurek commented on the press conference attended by the former minister, making statements that sounded nothing short of gangster-like.
On Friday, politicians from Law and Justice (PiS) held a press conference with the participation of Zbigniew Ziobro. The former minister of justice, pursued by the current authorities, is staying abroad because – as he and other opposition politicians claim – he cannot count on a fair trial in Poland.
Ziobro joined the media briefing through an online communicator. He presented three conditions for his return to Poland. He demands the reinstatement of random case assignment to judges, the reinstatement of presidents of courts who were illegally dismissed, and the reinstatement of lawful leadership in the prosecution service, including the National Prosecutor.
“I will always stand before an independent, impartial court and a lawfully functioning prosecution service. But not before a prosecution service and law enforcement bodies whose rules of the game are unlawfully set and distorted by Donald Tusk and his trusted ministers, acting out of purely political motives to create a tool for political combat against the justice system,” he said.
Onet asked the current minister of justice and prosecutor general, Waldemar Żurek, to comment on Ziobro’s words. His response says a great deal about how the current authorities interpret the law.
“This is cowardice. Some kind of game Mr. Ziobro is playing, because he has repeatedly said he would face everything head-on, styling himself as a sheriff. A sheriff is someone who is not afraid to confront things. We have free media and free courts, we follow procedures. Honestly, if we wanted to, we’d just bring him in the trunk – services around the world do such things, nothing new. But we follow the law and its rules. And Mr. Ziobro? He’s pulling the wool over people’s eyes, going on about supposed persecution – he’s been doing this all along,” Żurek said.
The minister of justice also cast doubt on Ziobro’s fight against cancer. In his view, the opposition politician “does not look like someone who feels unwell.”
On 7 November this year, the Sejm lifted Ziobro’s immunity and consented to his detention and possible arrest. Just a few hours later, a prosecutor issued a decision presenting Ziobro with 26 charges related to the Justice Fund (FS). Later – in mid-November – the prosecution filed a request with the District Court for Warsaw-Mokotów for Ziobro’s three-month arrest. The court hearing in this matter is scheduled for 22 December. It is worth noting that as early as one month before the arrest hearing, the court requested… that he be secured by an escort.
Zbigniew Ziobro commented later in the evening on social media on some of the posts and comments coming from the ruling camp.
“The venom-filled statements of those who forcibly and unlawfully took over the justice system reveal one thing: fear. They are afraid of the truth about the illegality of their own rule over the prosecution service and the courts. They try to drown it out, mock it, because they know their accusations are grotesque,” the former minister of justice stated.