“Never have so many faced so many lawsuits by so few” – paraphrasing the most famous sentence of World War II, spoken by Winston Churchill, Tomasz Sakiewicz summed up today Donald Tusk’s actions and his comrades. And although the leader of the Civic Platform sent numerous lawsuits to inconvenient media outlets, he did not consider personal appearances.
“Never in the field of human conflict was so much owed by so many to so few” is the most famous sentence uttered during World War II, spoken by the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, Winston Churchill, on August 20, 1940. He used these words to honor the pilots of the British Royal Air Force (RAF), including exceptional Polish aviators, who had been repelling the massive attacks by the German Luftwaffe on Britain for 13 days. This battle became known as the Battle of Britain and has gone down in history.
Using a paraphrase of the British Prime Minister’s words, Tomasz Sakiewicz referred to the numerous lawsuits that Donald Tusk and his followers have been nervously filing in recent months.
Lawsuit after lawsuit. Platforma’s way of dealing with inconvenient media Upon his return to Polish politics, Donald Tusk had to face uncomfortable questions. The times of media monopoly, in which the king of Europe in the mainstream media could count only on praise, had passed.
Instead of engaging in substantive discussions and arguments to address uncomfortable questions, he found another way. The louder the scandal or controversy, the more lawsuits the leader of the Civic Platform would send. And they have accumulated.
1 – Gott mit uns, or playing with the conscience of voters
In July of last year, the leader of the Civic Platform, Donald Tusk, appeared on the cover of “Gazeta Polska.” The cover and the accompanying article referred to Tusk’s statement in which he argued that “if you believe in God, you don’t vote for PiS.” Donald Tusk repeated these words multiple times, including this year, during a meeting in Sosnowiec, where he also mentioned the Confederation party.
Tusk did not like the “Gott mit uns” cover so much that he sued Tomasz Sakiewicz, the editor-in-chief of “Gazeta Polska.” The chief editor believes that the cover was satirical and reminiscent of Tusk’s own “sense of humor” (referring to vulgar slogans on banners during the June 4th march), highlighting the irony of Tusk himself suing for satire about him.
2 – The “Z” on the forehead
At the beginning of this year, the Chairman of the Civic Platform sued “Gazeta Polska Codziennie” and its editor-in-chief, Tomasz Sakiewicz, over a series of publications in “GPC” regarding Tusk’s pro-Russian stance. The newspaper’s cover, on which the leader of the Platform appears with the letter “Z” on his forehead, particularly displeased him.
3 – Responsibility for Smolensk
Donald Tusk also sued the editor-in-chief of “Gazeta Polska,” Tomasz Sakiewicz, in March 2022. At that time, the leader of the Civic Platform wanted to fight for his “personal rights.” This came after the chief editor of “GP” made the following statement on TVP Info:
“Only because Lech Kaczyński lived for two more years before Tusk allowed him to be killed by Vladimir Putin, we couldn’t take actions strong and deep enough to undo it during the rule of PiS.”
Shortly after filing the lawsuit, Sakiewicz responded, saying, “Let him go intimidate journalists in his own man’s [referring to Putin] place in Moscow.”
Simultaneously, TVN station sued Telewizja Polska (TVP) and the editor-in-chief of the tvp.info portal, Samuel Pereira. The reason? Quoting Tomasz Sakiewicz’s opinion about TVN’s coverage of the Smolensk air disaster.
4 – We can say that “TVN is lying”
TVN’s lawsuit for the protection of personal rights against our portal was submitted to the District Court in Warsaw at the turn of the year. Let’s recall: In early December, the editor-in-chief of “Gazeta Polska” and “Gazeta Polska Codziennie,” Tomasz Sakiewicz, appeared on TVP Info, where he accused TVN of spreading lies about the Smolensk air disaster. His words were quoted on the Niezależna.pl portal. Last Tuesday, the editor-in-chief of the Niezależna.pl portal, Grzegorz Wierzchołowski, and the journalists of the media received the lawsuit. The claims are to be secured simultaneously. The aim is “to order the defendants [Niezależna.pl] to refrain from disseminating in any way and in any form, particularly on the Niezależna.pl website, as well as the defendant [Grzegorz Wierzchołowski], particularly on the Niezależna.pl website, in the newspaper ‘Gazeta Polska Codziennie,’ and in the magazine ‘Gazeta Polska,’ […] information stating that: TVN is lying; TVN provides information that protects Putin; TVN is hiding the truth about the Smolensk air disaster; TVN’s publications are manipulated; for a period of 1 year.”
5 – “Our Man in Warsaw”
Donald Tusk also filed a lawsuit against TVP journalists (Jarosław Olechowski and Marcin Tulicki) for the film “Our Man in Warsaw,” which features archival statements of the leader of the Civic Platform from the time when he was the Prime Minister responsible for Poland’s foreign policy.
The Center for Monitoring Press Freedom of the Polish Journalists Association assessed at that time that Donald Tusk’s filing of a lawsuit against Marcin Tulicki, Jarosław Olechowski, and TVP S.A. after the broadcast of the film “Our Man in Warsaw” was “extremely disturbing” and violated the principle of freedom of speech in a democratic state.
In solidarity, Telewizja Republika repeatedly aired the documentary “Our Man in Warsaw.”
6 – The case of a certain envelope. Marshal Grodzki hides behind immunity for 816 days. The clock is ticking!
There was also a lot of noise regarding the lawsuit filed against Tomasz Sakiewicz by the Marshal of the Senate, Tomasz Grodzki. The politician from the Civic Platform, despite extensive evidence gathered by the prosecutor’s office, has no intention of relinquishing his immunity to prove his innocence in court.
Let’s recall: The Regional Prosecutor’s Office in Szczecin is demanding the lifting of Marshal Grodzki’s immunity. According to this prosecutor’s office, Grodzki, while serving as the director of a specialized hospital in Szczecin and the head of the Chest Surgery Department there, accepted financial benefits from patients or their relatives.
Above, we have outlined only the main areas of disputes that have arisen in recent months. Several lawsuits were filed concurrently for specific cases. In many of these cases, the aim was to hold the publishers of various Free Speech Zone media outlets accountable.