TVN sued the Niezalezna.pl portal and its publisher for quoting the words of Tomasz Sakiewicz, which were spoken on TVP Info. The broadcaster from Wiertnicza Street demanded that Niezalezna stop publishing information stating that “TVN lies”, “TVN hides the truth about the Smolensk catastrophe”, or “TVN’s publications are manipulated”. The court dismissed TVN’s lawsuit and ordered the station to cover the legal costs. “This is a painful defeat for a station founded by people linked to the communist services, which – I remind you – wanted to impose a gag of preventive censorship on us in this matter,” said Grzegorz Wierzchołowski, editor-in-chief of the Niezalezna.pl portal.
TVN Television sued Słowo Niezależne, the publisher of the Niezalezna.pl portal, and editor-in-chief Grzegorz Wierzchołowski for quoting the words of Tomasz Sakiewicz spoken on TVP Info. Among other things, it concerned the following statements: “They are lying through their teeth. […] TVN said that explosions and an attack were ruled out. […] TVN provides information that protects Putin regarding the Smolensk catastrophe. It has been helping to hide the truth about Smolensk from the very beginning.”
“I am not claiming they are doing this intentionally. I tried to show that the result of this game of lies they are playing is very beneficial to Putin,” Tomasz Sakiewicz said during his testimony.
For publishing the quotation from Tomasz Sakiewicz, TVN demanded PLN 100,000 for the TVN Foundation and an order to cease disseminating, in any manner and in any form on the Niezalezna.pl portal and other titles associated with the Free Speech Zone, information stating that:
“TVN lies,”
“TVN provides information that protects Putin,”
“TVN hides the truth about the Smolensk catastrophe,”
“TVN’s publications are manipulated,”
and “other similar formulations.”
In addition, the portal was demanded to publish an apology statement.
However, the court rejected the demands of the broadcaster from Wiertnicza Street.
On January 28, 2026, Warsaw District Court judge Krzysztof Tarapata ruled to close the hearing and dismiss the lawsuit filed by the broadcaster from Wiertnicza Street. At the same time, he decided that the plaintiff – TVN S.A. – would bear the costs of the proceedings.
“This is a verdict of great importance both for the issue of freedom of speech in Poland and for the truth about Smolensk. It turned out that, fortunately, in Poland one can say that TVN lied and manipulated in the Smolensk case, and that these Smolensk lies served Russia. This is a painful defeat for a station founded by people linked to the communist services, which – I remind you – wanted to impose a gag of preventive censorship on us in this matter,” said Grzegorz Wierzchołowski, editor-in-chief of Niezalezna.pl.