“Consider what purpose it serves for my client’s image to be circulating in the media tomorrow, when it is known that the minister is in Hungary under international protection. The prosecution has the right to do this, but it is not playing fair,” said attorney Bartosz Lewandowski after the hearing at the District Court for Warsaw Mokotów. He also commented on the future of the granted asylum, should there be a change of government in Hungary.
“The court has ordered the temporary arrest of Minister Zbigniew Ziobro,” attorney Adam Gomoła reported on X. The defense announced it would appeal the decision to the Regional Court in Warsaw.
After the hearing, the politician’s defense counsel, attorney Bartosz Lewandowski, addressed the media.
“The District Court applied a preventive measure, noting that in the event of Mr. Zbigniew Ziobro’s detention, he would be transferred to a medical facility. The court stated that at this stage it is not examining whether the evidence confirms guilt and is not conducting a detailed analysis of the evidentiary material,”
he said.
He added that he had filed a motion to suspend the enforceability of the ruling.
“In my view, issuing an arrest warrant serves no procedural purpose other than to exploit the matter in the media and politically. The minister is under international protection. The prosecution knows where he is, so initiating a search violates standards. I believe this is a deliberate action aimed at creating a political effect rather than a necessity to secure the proper course of the proceedings,”
he stressed.
Addressing journalists, he said: “Consider what purpose it serves for my client’s image to be circulating in the media tomorrow, when it is known that the minister is in Hungary under international protection. The prosecution has the right to do this, but it is not playing fair.”
Asked by a reporter from Niezalezna.pl about the future of Ziobro’s asylum in the event of a political change in Hungary following the April parliamentary elections, he replied:
“I do not know to what extent, under Hungarian law, there is any possibility of overturning such a decision. It has been issued, communicated to the European Commission, and is in legal circulation. This is not solely a decision of Hungary. I would also recall that in the case of Marcin Romanowski, Interpol emphasized that pursuing him and issuing a red notice was unjustified and went beyond the objectives declared by the Polish state.”