Journalist Leszek Kraskowski has left custody after 27 days. In an extensive social media post, he described his first day of freedom – full of emotion, a race against time and, as he claims, further difficulties. His account also includes strong, one-sided accusations, including those against the prosecutor’s office.
Kraskowski wrote that his release from custody was dramatic and took place in haste. He claims that police officers left him outside the Warsaw District Prosecutor’s Office “in a prison uniform, without a penny to his name.” The journalist stressed that he left the prosecutor’s office at 2:20 p.m., while the administration of the Białołęka detention centre, where he was supposed to collect his belongings, documents and money from the deposit, was open only until 3:30 p.m. Had he failed to make it in time, he would have had to wait until Monday.
According to his account, his lawyer helped him get there on time. “The ever-reliable attorney Łukasz Pawelski paid for an Uber for me, thanks to which I managed to collect my belongings from the deposit,” he wrote. He also thanked his defence lawyers, Łukasz Pawelski, Tomasz Mielke and Adam Janus, “for getting me out of the slammer,” as well as everyone who, as he put it, did not lose faith in his honesty and innocence.
“I have become homeless”
Later in the post, the journalist described a situation which, he claims, made it impossible for him to return to his own home in Łoś. As he wrote, it turned out in the evening that he was “homeless” because his wife was in the house and, since she is a witness in the case, he is subject to a no-contact order.
“The first day of freedom was not easy. It was a race against time. And full of emotions. Police officers left me outside the Warsaw District Prosecutor’s Office in a prison uniform, without a penny to my name. With nothing but the clothes on my back. That’s the procedure. Seriously,” he wrote on X.
Kraskowski pointed out that if he violated the ban and entered the house, he could return to custody, while TV Republika CEO Tomasz Sakiewicz would lose the PLN 25,000 bail paid on his behalf. He also pointed to a problem with one of the obligations imposed on him: by Monday he must deposit his passport with the prosecutor’s office, but, as he claims, it is in the house in Łoś, which he cannot enter.
The journalist also wrote that he had been deprived of his work tools , archives, computers and phones seized by the police, and that he does not even have his own clothes. He sent greetings “from the DeSilva hotel in Piaseczno.”
Strong words aimed at the prosecutor’s office
The post also contains harsh, personal assessments. Kraskowski announced that he expects “further provocations and traps” as well as more statements from the prosecutor’s office. He was highly critical of the spokesperson for the Warsaw District Prosecutor’s Office, and he directed a lengthy, personal passage at his wife, questioning her attitude and motives. His wife, Wioletta, presents a completely different version of events. In a public statement, she accused her husband of violence against her and their children, listing more than a dozen examples of behaviour she described as abusive, and wrote directly that she fears for her own safety and that of those closest to her. The couple are in the process of divorcing.
By a decision dated July 3, the Warsaw District Prosecutor’s Office lifted Kraskowski’s pre-trial detention and replaced it with non-custodial preventive measures: bail, police supervision, a ban on approaching the injured party, and a ban on leaving the country combined with the seizure of his passport.
The reason for easing the measure was a change in the assessment of one aspect of the case. According to the prosecutor’s office, the findings so far regarding an email containing threats against the police commander in Piaseczno no longer make it possible to assume a high probability that Kraskowski was its author. The journalist has consistently denied the charges.