“I hope honesty prevails over cynicism and villainy,” President Andrzej Duda said when asked about the lawsuit Karol Nawrocki announced following Monday’s Onet publication. Commenting on the article, Duda recalled that he, too, had once been targeted by parts of the media. He noted the court battle ahead would not be easy for the IPN chief, because the other side “will defend itself by every possible means.”
On Monday, Onet published an article quoting anonymous former colleagues who accuse Nawrocki—then a security guard at Sopot’s Grand Hotel—of arranging prostitutes for hotel guests. Calling the report “a pack of lies,” the IPN president vowed to sue the outlet.
Questioned about the article and lawsuit before departing for Berlin, President Duda said he had faced similar attacks during his own presidential campaign:
“The vile practices some Polish outlets used against me… In the previous campaign certain newspapers dared imply—right on their front pages—that I was involved in paedophile activities. It was a blatant slander, an insult, something utterly revolting.”
He branded such tactics “gangster methods.”
“So when Prime Minister Tusk spoke yesterday about gangsters, he probably knew exactly whom he meant; he must already have been aware of this,” Duda added.
“I hope Karol Nawrocki succeeds with his lawsuit, though the process will be lengthy, because those forces will defend themselves by every possible means—including their influence over the judiciary,” the president continued.
Concluding, he said: “We live in very difficult times in Poland today, unfortunately. Let me put it this way: I hope honesty triumphs—not cynicism and villainy.”