“Following the disclosure of shocking information about the course of the November meeting between Żurek, Pałka, Wrzosek and others with left-wing activists in the building of the Regional Prosecutor’s Office in Warsaw, I filed a notification of a justified suspicion that the crime of paid influence peddling was committed,” said Law and Justice (PiS) MP Marcin Romanowski.
New information about the meeting with Żurek
In November, at the headquarters of the Regional Prosecutor’s Office in Warsaw, a “consultative meeting” took place between Justice Minister Waldemar Żurek and representatives of “civic organizations.” As emphasized at the time, the purpose of the talks was to present demands concerning the functioning of the justice system. Among those invited were, among others, Mateusz Kijowski – the former leader of the Committee for the Defence of Democracy (KOD), convicted in the so-called invoice scandal – as well as Bartosz Kramek from the Open Dialogue Foundation (FOD), Katarzyna Augustynek and Ewa Wrzosek.
Augustynek later revealed behind-the-scenes details of the November meeting with Waldemar Żurek. She and the other participants were said to have hoped that the justice minister would take action in criminal cases being conducted against them, related to instigating disturbances during the period of Law and Justice (PiS) rule. Żurek was reportedly to have declared at the time that someone from the Ministry of Justice would contact them on this matter. According to Augustynek, this promise was not fulfilled.
PiS MP filed a notification to the prosecutor’s office
In connection with the new information about the course of this meeting, Law and Justice (Prawo i Sprawiedliwość, PiS) MP Marcin Romanowski filed a notification to the prosecutor’s office “of a justified suspicion that the crime of paid influence peddling was committed.”
From the account of the participant – “Babcia Kasia” – and other circumstances, it follows that in exchange for personal benefits – political support from activists – Żurek may have undertaken to arrange matters in their favor. “Tusk’s cryptodictatorship is full of people who carry out political persecutions driven by base motives and who commit drastic violations of the constitutional order,” he emphasized.
In his view, members of the December 13 coalition “through their vile statements and scandalous actions have turned the justice system into an instrument of repression – and of protecting their own.”
“The Neumann doctrine is alive and well. They must be fought so that they can no longer devastate Poland,” he concluded.
The MP stressed that “the broader context of systemic violations of the constitutional order, the instrumentalization of the justice system, and mechanisms protecting supporters of the current authorities justify qualification under Article 258 of the Criminal Code.” He also recalled that committing such an offense carries a penalty of up to 10 years’ imprisonment.