Former justice minister Zbigniew Ziobro spoke on Telewizja Republika about, among other things, the prosecutor’s office actions against editor-in-chief Tomasz Sakiewicz and his decision to accept the station’s offer.
“Is this a crime? Perhaps it is for Tusk, for Żurek, for that entire crowd of people who did not even know that a passport issued under the Geneva Convention exists,” Ziobro said.
During Katarzyna Gójska’s program W Punkt, Ziobro argued that Donald Tusk’s government wanted his capture to become a major success for the “December 13 coalition.” According to him, the plan included showing the former justice minister being brought back to Poland in handcuffs, but the operation “turned out to be a complete fiasco.”
“An Attack on Journalists”
“They did not know that there is such a thing as a passport issued under the Geneva Convention. That passport allowed me to travel all over the world, including to the United States,” Ziobro said.
In his view, the current government needed to somehow cover up its embarrassment.
“They do not have Ziobro, so they want to attack editor Sakiewicz. The matter is very simple. It is a picture of the helplessness and weakness of this government, which once again wants to direct its attacks and aggression against journalists and the media,” the former justice minister said.
Ziobro recalled that not everyone knows Telewizja Republika had approached him several times over the past year with offers to become a commentator for “this wonderful, largest conservative media outlet not only in Poland, but in Europe.”
He stressed that while staying in Budapest he had decided against accepting the proposal for various reasons. However, when deciding to travel to the United States, he concluded that the situation had changed, especially because Republika has a massive audience and significant influence among the Polish-American community.
He added that reaching the Polish diaspora in the United States is one of the main goals of his political engagement there.
“I considered combining these two roles justified and accepted the offer. Is this a crime? Perhaps it is for Tusk, for Żurek, for that whole crowd of people who did not even know that a passport under the Geneva Convention existed,” the former minister said.
Zbigniew Ziobro also argued that for those circles, the very existence of Telewizja Republika is treated as a crime.