“There can be no tolerance for this kind of behavior, and through every available means at our disposal, we will demand an end to these actions and a full clarification of all the circumstances. This also includes preventive measures to ensure that similar situations simply do not happen again,” Dr. Joanna Hajdasz, president of the Polish Journalists Association (SDP), told Niezalezna.pl while commenting on the harassment of TV Republika journalists, including today’s police intrusion into the apartment of the station’s CEO, Tomasz Sakiewicz.
A campaign targeting TV Republika
For nearly three days, journalists working for TV Republika have reportedly been subjected to a series of attacks. These have involved police interventions prompted by reports of possible suicides, deceased persons, or planted explosives.
Early Friday afternoon, police officers appeared at the Warsaw residence of TV Republika’s CEO, Tomasz Sakiewicz. Officers handcuffed the station CEO’s assistant, with one officer announcing that she was “being detained in connection with a misdemeanor.”
“They searched my apartment without my consent and without any warrant whatsoever. My apartment also serves as one of the editorial offices, so journalistic confidentiality was violated as well,”
Tomasz Sakiewicz reported.
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SDP president on the intimidation of journalists
Referring to these events, Jolanta Hajdasz, speaking on behalf of the Press Freedom Monitoring Center of the Polish Journalists Association, expressed “the utmost outrage, the strongest possible protest, and an absolutely unequivocal demand to stop the intimidation and harassment of journalists employed by TV Republika television.”
“We are dealing today with a situation in which police officers entered the private apartment of the editor-in-chief of this station, Tomasz Sakiewicz, acting without any written document or authorization, solely to harass him. This is profoundly outrageous and alarming because it concerns members of the media, people who also dare to hold those in power accountable and criticize the authorities,”
she said.
She stressed that in every democratic state, the media are afforded protection and safeguards, “just like state officials or senior employees of central government offices and ministries, who are simply entitled to protection.”
“The same should apply here. Investigating any incidents occurring in the private homes of media professionals requires exceptional sensitivity by definition, whereas here we are witnessing a violation of virtually every principle governing relations between the state and journalists, and politicians and journalists. This is simply unprecedented,”
the SDP president assessed.
She also pointed out that “this is not an isolated incident.”
“This has been happening for the third consecutive day, with one journalist after another receiving false reports and being intimidated through actions initiated based on fake bomb threats and similar false alerts. Why is the government remaining silent? Why is no one addressing this or explaining who is carrying out these actions against this particular media outlet and for what purpose? This is exceptionally disturbing and deeply outrageous,”
she stated.
Jolanta Hajdasz assured that the Polish Journalists Association would investigate the matter and “demand that everything connected to this case be brought to light.”
“There can be no tolerance for such behavior, and, through every available means at our disposal, we will demand that these actions cease and that all the circumstances be fully clarified. This must also include preventive measures so that similar situations do not occur in the future. It is clearly evident that we are dealing with a coordinated campaign against TV Republika. The only question is: who is behind it? I assure full professional solidarity with our colleagues from TV Republika,”
Jolanta Hajdasz concluded.