A key figure of Warsaw’s former conservative Law and Justice (PiS) government, who is being targeted as part of leftist Prime Minister Donald Tusk’s pursuit of his rivals, has been granted international protection and political asylum in Hungary.
Zbigniew Ziobro said on Monday that he will “take advantage” of this decision “due to political repression in Poland,” adding:
I choose to fight political banditry and lawlessness. I resist the growing dictatorship. I do this in the name of the principles that have always guided me, and because of which I have become the target of personal vengeance from Donald Tusk and his circle.
W drugą rocznicę kryminalnego przejęcia Prokuratury Krajowej przez grupę przestępczą Tuska oświadczam:
Wybieram walkę z politycznym bandytyzmem i bezprawiem. Stawiam opór postępującej dyktaturze. Czynię to w imię zasad, którymi zawsze się kierowałem i z powodu których stałem się…
He faces up to 25 years in prison on 26 charges, including abuse of power and alleged crimes relating to the management of the Justice Fund, a state fund created to support victims of crime.
Speaking on behalf of Hungarian Foreign Minister Péter Szijjártó, who announced the decision on January 12th, Secretary of State for International Communication Zoltán Kovács said that “democracy and the rule of law are in crisis in Poland,” adding, “many people are subject to political persecution” there.
❗️ @FM_Szijjarto confirmed that Hungarian authorities have granted asylum to several Polish citizens who would face political persecution in Poland, stressing that all such requests are assessed carefully in line with Hungarian and EU regulations.
Kovács noted that “several Polish citizens who would face political persecution in Poland” have been granted asylum by Budapest. Reports suggest that Ziobro’s wife is among these numbers.
Former PiS Defence Minister Mariusz Błaszczak previously bashed the accusations being levelled against Ziobro as “the terror of political revenge.” Ziobro has himself denied wrongdoing and accused Tusk’s left-liberal government of pursuing a “political vendetta.”
Responding to the granting of asylum to the former minister, the current Warsaw administration stressed that it would not back down in its fight. Deputy Defence Minister Cezary Tomczyk stressed that “Ziobro will not go unpunished” because “no politician is above the law.”
Michael Curzon is a news writer for europeanconservative.com based in England’s Midlands. He is also Editor of Bournbrook Magazine, which he founded in 2019, and previously wrote for London’s Express Online. His Twitter handle is @MichaelCurzon_.
