The revocation of the European Arrest Warrant against Marcin Romanowski has sparked a sharp exchange on social media. After Waldemar Żurek challenged the court’s decision and announced further actions by the prosecution, Bartosz Lewandowski responded forcefully, pointing to features of a “crypto-dictatorship” and a lack of respect for unfavorable rulings. Earlier, Romanowski himself spoke on TV Republika of an “indictment” against Adam Bodnar, Żurek, and their backers.
Romanowski on the revocation of the arrest warrant
The Warsaw Regional Court granted the defense’s motion and revoked the European Arrest Warrant against MP Marcin Romanowski. The politician, who has been granted political asylum in Hungary, may now move freely within European Union countries. Of key importance, Romanowski emphasizes, is the extensive reasoning provided in the decision.
“Reading the reasoning for the revocation of the European Arrest Warrant against me, this decision constitutes an indictment not only of Bodnar, Żurek, and the gangsters from their milieu, but of the entire ruling team,” the MP said on TV Republika.
Romanowski noted that the court unequivocally undermined the governing camp’s narrative regarding the Justice Fund and deemed the Hungarian authorities’ decision to grant him asylum fully justified. “It was indicated that Hungary is credible in this matter, not the Tusk administration operating within an illegally seized prosecution service,” he added.
Of particular significance is a passage of the reasoning in which, as Romanowski said, the current political system in Poland was described as a “crypto-dictatorship,” with the court pointing to systemic violations of the law and the constitution.
Żurek reacts, Lewandowski responds
These issues were addressed on X by Waldemar Żurek, who questioned the manner in which the court proceeded.
“The decision was taken by a single judge, at a closed session, without the prosecution’s knowledge or notification, which raises serious procedural doubts,” he wrote, announcing a renewed application for a European Arrest Warrant and an attempt to have the judge excluded should the case be reconsidered.
Bartosz Lewandowski responded to this post, stating that such an attitude precisely confirms the court’s assessment.
“You are exactly confirming the Regional Court’s assessment that we are dealing with a ‘crypto-dictatorship.’ A ‘crypto-dictatorship’ is characterized by its failure to respect court rulings it does not like,” Lewandowski wrote, adding that the content of a ruling cannot serve as grounds for excluding a judge.
Attorney Lewandowski also addressed the words of reporter Marta Gordziewicz, who wrote on X: “The third court decision favorable to M. Romanowski. How was it again? He left because he couldn’t count on a fair trial?”
Lewandowski attached the court’s reasoning and wrote: “In its reasoning, the Court precisely enumerated that the government influences judicial independence and that there is a problem with a fair trial.”
The reasoning states, among other things, that “(…) there are serious concerns that the situation currently prevailing in the Polish state may be classified as a crypto-dictatorship,” as well as references to “the executive branch’s violation of human rights and civil liberties and of the constitutional order of the Republic of Poland.”