“In my assessment, the police officers behaved in a disproportionate manner. The use of handcuffs is regulated by law in such a way that it must be adequate to the level of threat or to the behavior of a person who may pose such a threat. This situation is surreal,” said Lt. Col. Mariusz Kozłowski, a former Military Counterintelligence Service (SKW) officer, referring to the police entry into the apartment of Tomasz Sakiewicz, CEO of TV Republika, and the handcuffing of his assistant.
Police at Tomasz Sakiewicz’s home
Today, a shocking incident took place in the apartment of Tomasz Sakiewicz, CEO of TV Republika.
“Half an hour ago [around 1:30 p.m.], police forcibly entered my home, handcuffed my assistant, claiming that there was a child in danger here. They said they would remove the handcuffs once she identified herself, but that was impossible because she was handcuffed. They made it impossible from the start. They tried to take her out, I followed them. The police refused to identify themselves or say who they were, they were in uniform. They behaved like bandits” – Sakiewicz reported.
The police entry into the apartment and the handcuffing of Tomasz Sakiewicz’s assistant was commented on TV Republika by Lt. Col. Mariusz Kozłowski, a former SKW officer.
“The officers were allowed into the apartment, and the locks were not damaged. They did not use force to enter. The actual reasons why the officers knocked on the door of editor-in-chief Sakiewicz are unknown. In my assessment, the officers most likely acted on an anonymous report. I cannot understand why and under what circumstances the CEO’s assistant was handcuffed. In my view, the police officers behaved in a disproportionate manner. The use of handcuffs is regulated by law in such a way that it must correspond to the level of threat or to the behavior of a person who may pose such a threat. This situation is surreal,” he said.
The officers did not identify themselves. “A serious failure”
“The security services expert also pointed to the silence of the Warsaw Police Headquarters, as well as the fact that the officers who entered the apartment of TV Republika’s CEO Sakiewicz refused to identify themselves. The fact that the officers did not identify themselves is a serious failure on their part. Every police officer acting within the law must, when carrying out an intervention, identify themselves and provide their service ID number or badge. This constitutes intimidation by the state against all journalists,” he stated.
Lt. Col. Kozłowski also argued that “journalism, as the fourth estate, has been attacked.”
“There are no reactions from the state. This means that the state has waged war on journalists. Given that statements by some politicians suggest they do not recognize journalists from TV Republika as journalists, I believe this practice will continue,” he said.