“If a prosecutor from the National Prosecutor’s Office claims that being a journalist and holding a press card may be connected to a crime, then what kind of country are we living in? Mr. Prosecutor Woźniak, has the ceiling fallen on your head?” said Jarosław Olechowski, head of editors at TV Republika, during a meeting of the Parliamentary Team for Counteracting Lawlessness. He was commenting on a request issued by the prosecutor’s office to the Association of Polish Journalists (SDP).
Olechowski referred to a letter sent by prosecutors to the SDP. According to him, investigators demanded documents concerning former Justice Minister Zbigniew Ziobro, including records of his membership in the association, his press credentials, and information on membership fees he had paid.
“I can tell you that I have never seen anything like this. In my opinion, since 1989, no prosecutor in Poland has signed a document of this kind,” he said.
Prosecutors demanded documents concerning Ziobro
The letter was signed by prosecutor Piotr Woźniak. The prosecutor’s office also asked whether Ziobro had applied for an international press card issued through the International Federation of Journalists.
“Mr. Prosecutor Woźniak, has the ceiling fallen on your head?” Olechowski asked.
“These are, as Mr. Woźniak wrote, pieces of evidence in a criminal case—items allegedly connected to a crime. If a prosecutor from the National Prosecutor’s Office claims that being a journalist and possessing a press card may be linked to a crime, then what kind of country are we living in?” Olechowski said.
The Association of Polish Journalists refused to provide the requested information. SDP president Jolanta Hajdasz cited a lack of legal grounds, personal data protection regulations, and the constitutional right of association members to privacy.
“By what right does the prosecutor ask who is a journalist?”
Olechowski argued that there is no legal provision preventing a wanted person from working as a journalist or engaging in journalistic activities.
“By what right does the prosecutor ask who is a journalist in Poland? What law states that a person who is wanted, even under an arrest warrant, cannot be a journalist?” he asked.
He recalled that TV Republika had begun cooperating with Ziobro, who became a political commentator for the station. According to Olechowski, cooperation between media organizations and former or active politicians is nothing unusual. He noted that many media outlets publish commentaries, essays, and analyses prepared by politicians.
“Mr. Woźniak, show me a single provision that prohibits employing a person wanted under an arrest warrant. Were we not allowed to hire Mr. Ziobro as a political commentator? On what basis? Was he not allowed to join the Association of Polish Journalists? What article of law prohibits that?” Olechowski asked.
He also referred to remarks previously made by Przemysław Rosati, president of the Polish Bar Council. Rosati had stated that the mere fact that criminal proceedings are pending against a person does not prevent others from cooperating with that individual and that the presumption of innocence applies until a final conviction is handed down.
Fine imposed on Tomasz Sakiewicz
“Simply because Republika hired Mr. Ziobro, president Tomasz Sakiewicz has been summoned to the prosecutor’s office for a second time. He has already received one fine, even though a court has not yet reviewed whether it was justified, and now he is being threatened with another sanction,” Olechowski said.
In his view, demands for information about the terms of Ziobro’s employment and cooperation constitute an unjustified intrusion by law enforcement authorities into the operations of a private media company.
“Is an entrepreneur running a business supposed to report to prosecutors whom he employs, where he employs them, and for how much? Where are the laws that allow this?” he asked.
“This is not about the law”
The head of Republika’s editors argued that “this situation shows that this is not about the law or prosecuting wrongdoing at all—it is about pure politics.”
He stressed that the free gathering and dissemination of information is one of the fundamental rights of journalists. In his opinion, the prosecutor’s demand for documents relating to membership in a journalists’ organization and attempts to obtain information about a newsroom’s cooperation with a commentator could have a chilling effect.
“We cannot allow this right to be taken away, because that would mean the end of democracy, civil liberties, and fundamental freedoms,” he said.
He concluded:
“We can guarantee that we will not bend under pressure. As you can see, that pressure is becoming stronger and stronger. Perhaps it will even end with us actually having to go to prison. But if that is the price of defending Polish freedom, democracy, the rule of law, and the right to freely express opinions, we are prepared to pay it.”