A meeting of the Parliamentary Team for Counteracting Lawlessness was held in the Polish Sejm on Thursday, with one of its main topics being the alleged persecution of journalists by the authorities. The session was attended by lawmakers and media representatives.
“We will be discussing the attack that Tusk’s government is carrying out against free media,” said the team’s chairman, Law and Justice (PiS) MP Michał Woś.
Woś argued that the alleged persecution of journalists “is reaching alarming proportions.”
“We are dealing with the arrest of a journalist who was investigating the activities of a politician—a leading politician of the ruling party, Donald Tusk’s representative, and also matters concerning Donald Tusk’s family, namely Roman Giertych. But we are also witnessing a whole series of attacks—unprecedented attacks—on journalists, on editorial offices, and on the fundamental principle of journalistic confidentiality,” Woś said.
Among those participating in the meeting were Jolanta Hajdasz, Michał Rachoń, Jarosław Olechowski, journalists Tomasz Duklanowski and Piotr Nisztor, as well as attorney Łukasz Pawelski, who represents the detained journalist Leszek Kraskowski.
Opening the session, Woś also referred to a series of false bomb threats and actions directed against Tomasz Sakiewicz.
“We have learned that prosecutor Piotr Woźniak, who is pursuing cases against Zbigniew Ziobro, Marcin Romanowski, members of the opposition, and Dariusz Matecki, decided—though we do not know under what procedure, because the code does not provide for such a procedure—to unilaterally lift journalistic confidentiality. He attempted to compel editor Tomasz Sakiewicz to take actions that would in fact violate the law, disregarding standards associated with a democratic state governed by the rule of law, freedom of the press, and journalistic privilege,” Woś stated.
The meeting forms part of an ongoing political and public debate in Poland regarding press freedom, the protection of journalistic sources, and the relationship between state institutions and the media.