The president of TV Republika, Tomasz Sakiewicz, issued a special appeal to viewers in connection with the first-instance court’s decision to revoke the station’s terrestrial broadcasting license.
“It is your decision. I am neither encouraging nor discouraging anyone. We will try to pay one more installment to give the National Broadcasting Council time to reconsider,” the president of Republika said.
“I Held a Meeting.” Statement from the President of TV Republika
On Monday, the District Court in Warsaw upheld the first-instance ruling in a private prosecution case brought by former Senate Speaker Tomasz Grodzki against journalist Tomasz Duklanowski. The proceedings concerned publications related to the so-called “envelope scandal.”
The journalist was fined 300 daily rates of 40 złoty each and ordered to pay 8,000 złoty in damages. He must also cover the majority of court costs.
TV Republika president Tomasz Sakiewicz announced on air that he had held a meeting with lawyers regarding Duklanowski’s case.
“Tomek Duklanowski has been finally convicted for telling the truth about a certain Tomasz Grodzki—a man in whose case dozens of people testified that they had handed him bribes. In Tomek Duklanowski’s case, the only witness believed by both the first- and second-instance courts was a former officer of the Security Office,” he said.
He also emphasized that “dozens of people who tearfully testified about how bribes were squeezed out of them were deemed unreliable by the court.”
“I also consulted lawyers in my own case. Both cases are time-barred—Tomek Duklanowski’s and mine—but the courts are attempting to apply an expansive interpretation of the law. I won my case, so it’s not that simple, and I don’t know what they intend to do with it. Sending my case back to the first instance would mean several more years. Tomek Duklanowski was convicted at a time when, even under the most expansive interpretation, most of the charges were already time-barred. Since one offense had not expired, all the others were merged into it as a continuous act. This is the kind of situation we face every day,” he added.
The president of TV Republika also said that yesterday he held a major meeting with those responsible for security.
“We had to extend security for Piotr Nisztor to include his family as well, because his wife and children feel threatened by what has happened,” he said.
The TV Republika License Case
Sakiewicz also spoke about what he called the scandalous first-instance ruling that revoked TV Republika’s terrestrial broadcasting license.
“The first-instance court ruled solely on the basis of materials submitted by TVN, because what the judge cited had nothing to do with the facts—except for the striking statement that broadcasting in Poland requires the consent of the special services. The court revoked our license, but the decision is not final and we are awaiting the second-instance ruling. At the same time, despite the license being non-finally revoked, they are demanding that we pay the license fee for at least the entire year, even though we have no idea what the final decision will be. The National Broadcasting Council has not provided any path for a refund. If it issued a flawed decision, that would also concern the millions of złoty we have already paid, including for network expansion,” he said.
He added that Republika “guarantees millions of people access to a terrestrial signal, which has increased our broadcasting capacity by one quarter.”
“The mere revocation of our terrestrial television license does not mean they will switch off Republika’s signal. It simply means that for some of you who receive terrestrial television, the signal will no longer reach you via that route. It will still be available via satellite, cable, or the internet. However, it will be a serious inconvenience. If you want us to settle the remaining amount next week, please do so. It is your decision. I am neither encouraging nor discouraging anyone. We will try to pay one more installment to give the Council time to reconsider. The National Broadcasting Council is probably deliberating in an incomplete composition, because one of its members is apparently being barred—likely in violation of the Constitution—from participating in its sessions. This also needs clarification. They want to take away our license because we allegedly do not have the consent of the special services to broadcast. This is the current situation of the largest broadcaster in Poland,” he concluded.