Gójska: The attacks on TV Republika are meant to paralyse the station

As we send this issue of Gazeta Polska to print, we have already experienced more than a dozen situations in which the services took action against the headquarters of TV Republika, its journalists, or the editorial office of our weekly. Each time, everything followed the same pattern: the police appeared, sometimes accompanied by the fire brigade or medical rescuers, and searched the premises or private apartments for people allegedly intending to blow themselves up, or for people who had supposedly already taken their own lives. This complete absurdity, which even the police themselves did not seem to take seriously, functioned as harassment, frightened children present in their homes, and created an atmosphere of terror, writes Katarzyna Gójska in the latest issue of Gazeta Polska.

I do not know whether the information that was the basis for these interventions actually existed or not, and if it did exist, to whom it was addressed. However, I am certain of one thing: if the government’s intentions in this matter were honest and consistent with the public interest, the issue would have been communicated clearly, the services would have cooperated with TV Republika, and any interventions that might have taken place would have been free of aggression and violence.

• Police Raid Home of Tomasz Sakiewicz – TV Republika CEO’s Assistant Handcuffed and Detained
• Police Raid at Tomasz Sakiewicz’s Home: “From what I have heard, this was an unlawful arrest” [VIDEO]
• The Head of the Polish Journalists Association on the campaign against TV Republika: “I assure full solidarity with our colleagues”

The opposite is true: state services are spreading disinformation about the matter, concealing documents, or pretending not to know what is going on. Therefore, either the December 13 coalition itself is fabricating false and absurd reports to use them as an attempt to legitimise harassment against a hated media outlet, or it is exploiting a hybrid attack of eastern origin, aimed at the largest and anti-Russian news station in Poland, one that stands guard over transatlantic relations, and on that basis is trying to prepare the ground for paralysing TV Republika’s work.

• Lawyers for Poland Association: “This is outrageous” over prosecution’s actions against Sakiewicz
• “A gang of cowards”: Sakiewicz speaks out after police stormed his apartment 
• Polish Broadcasting Council reacts to police operation against TV Republika: “This could happen to any of us”

Today, we do not know which scenario is actually at play. However, both would mean that Tusk’s crypto-dictatorship has moved to a new level of censorial aggression. If they are creating fake reports themselves and using them as the basis for launching intervention operations, then we are dealing with a system that deserves to be called a “banditocracy.” But the second scenario described above would also amount to banditocracy: if Tusk’s team is joining some Russian operation against TV Republika, then it is acting in an extremely unlawful manner and striking at Poland’s interests and security.

Tusk has cooperated with the Russians more than once. His people plotted with Putin’s men against President Kaczyński. In the most recent election campaign, this political camp picked up a vulgar slogan circulated by the Kremlin and directed against Law and Justice, turning it into the motto of its political activity. One thing, however, is certain: regardless of the roots of this phenomenon, its purpose is to deepen the destruction of democracy in Poland and to bring about a forceful change of the political system in our homeland. If we give in, then in some time banditocracy will become our everyday reality.