Warsaw court refuses to issue European arrest warrant against Zbigniew Ziobro
The District Court in Warsaw has rejected a prosecutor's request to issue a European arrest warrant against Zbigniew Ziobro, an opposition MP and former justice minister.
Warsaw court refuses to issue European arrest warrant against Zbigniew Ziobro
The District Court in Warsaw has rejected a prosecutor's request from February of this year for a European arrest warrant against Zbigniew Ziobro, an opposition MP and former justice minister. Court spokesperson Anna Ptaszek informed that there is no right of appeal against this decision.
The court also refused to approve a request for Ziobro's arrest on the territory of the United Kingdom, should he be present there – Ptaszek added in a statement to the Polish news agency PAP.
According to the court's reasoning, it was not possible to prove that Ziobro is on the territory of the European Union or the United Kingdom, nor that he plans such a journey.
"Mr Minister Ziobro is currently safe and legally residing in the United States," confirmed Bartosz Lewandowski, the politician's lawyer, in a statement to the conservative television station Newsmax Polska.
Ziobro, who has been in the USA since May of this year with his wife, previously resided in Hungary from autumn of last year, where in January he received political asylum from the authorities led by Viktor Orbán. The departure from Hungary occurred before the new government of Prime Minister Péter Magyar took office.
According to information provided by the head of Polish diplomacy Radosław Sikorski at the beginning of July, the Hungarian authorities revoked political asylum for Ziobro, his wife, and Marcin Romanowski, a former deputy justice minister, who fled to Hungary at the end of 2024 and also received asylum there.
Ziobro and Romanowski were charged in the case of the Justice Fund created during the Law and Justice (PiS) government, among other things with participation in an organised criminal group. Ziobro, Romanowski and other PiS politicians described the proceedings as politically motivated.
A European arrest warrant against Romanowski was cancelled by the court in December of last year, but the District Court in Warsaw issued a new one in February of this year. His current place of residence has not been officially confirmed.
Source: hvg.hu – https://hvg.hu/vilag/20260713_europai-elfogadoparancs-zbigniew-ziobro-lengyel-birosag
Source: Google News HU — Crime (hu)