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On 15 October 2023, the Open Dialogue Foundation launched its all-new project. ListyHańby (Hall Of Shame) is a new platform aimed at tracking the abuses of the rule of law in Poland committed by the political party PiS (Law and Justice) and its cronies during its majority government between 2015 and 2023.  Covering all levels […]

A civic hearing of the candidates for the office of the National Public Prosecutor was held on 21 February 2024. It was organised by Democracy Action (Akcja Demokracja), the Open Dialogue Foundation, the “Defensor Iuris” Bar Association (Stowarzyszenie Adwokackie Defensor Iuris), Władysław Bartoszewski’s Skwer Association, and Video-KOD. The purpose of the hearing was to: rebuild […]

1. How did the parliamentary elections pan out? Following the parliamentary elections in October 2023, the political situation in Poland has changed substantially. According to the final count by the National Electoral Commission, turnout reached a record-setting 74.4%. In the lower house, the Sejm, the opposition, secured 248 seats, compared to the Law and Justice […]

Like every year, ODF took an active part in the OSCE’s Warsaw Human Dimension Conference. Unlike in 2022 we didn’t just focus the assembly’s attention on rule of law challenges in Poland, but also presented our findings on financial exclusion stemming from the abuse of AML/CFT laws by authoritarian states. The Warsaw Human Dimension Conference […]

Together with the “Themis” Association of Judges, we are proud to present the latest version of the report on abuses of power perpetrated by the Polish public prosecutor’s office under the rule of Zbigniew Ziobro: “Selected Cases of Malicious Prosecution and Derelition of Duties“. Monday 9 October, 16:00 – there will be a live broadcast […]

During the spring session of the Parliamentary Assembly 2023 of the Council of Europe that concluded on April 28th, our representation (Martin Mycielski and Katarzyna Szczypska) together with Judge Maciej Ferek (reinstated after 522 days of suspension for applying the primacy of European law), discussed the rule of law and political persecution in Poland and […]

On 5 December 2022, the Supreme Administrative Court overruled the last verdict of the neo-judges at the Voivodeship Administrative Court that was unfavourable to Lyudmyla Kozlovska and thus ,the decision of the Mazovian Voivodeship in her case. The Court concluded that the President of the Open Dialogue Foundation poses no threat to national security – […]

During the October 2022 plenary session of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe ODF had the honour to organise a public hearing under the title “Erosion of the rule of law in Poland: Political abuses of the prosecution office”. The event, held on 13 October in the Council’s Strasbourg headquarters, was hosted by […]

In the weeks of 26 September – 7 October the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) and its Warsaw-based Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR) held its 2022 Warsaw Human Dimension Conference, serving as a summit, or plenary session, of the OSCE’s human rights institution. The conference was attended by OSCE […]

In the weeks of 26 September – 7 October the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) and its Warsaw-based Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR) held its 2022 Warsaw Human Dimension Conference, serving as a summit, or plenary session, of the OSCE’s human rights institution. The conference was attended by OSCE […]

The Court of Appeal in Warsaw decided that the Chair of the Supervisory Board of the Open Dialogue Foundation, Bartosz Kramek, had been defamed and stigmatised by Tomasz Sakiewicz, the editor-in-chief of Gazeta Polska and by the newspaper’s publisher, Niezależne Wydawnictwo Polskie. The case concerned a photoshopped image of the Chair of ODF’s Supervisory Board […]

‘I, Dominik Tarczyński, apologise to Lyudmyla Kozlovska for infringement of her dignity and good name and to the Open Dialogue Foundation in Warsaw (Registration no. (KRS): 0000353754) for damage to its reputation and good name by disseminating damaging and untrue information about their participation in laundering of money coming from Russia during my appearance in […]

Maciej Wąsik, Deputy Interior Minister and Deputy Coordinator of Special Services, lost the lawsuit for violation of personal rights of the Open Dialogue Foundation. Wąsik defamed the Foundation by claiming it had connections with Russia, laundered money and conducted hybrid activities, as well as accused Bartosz Kramek, Chair of ODF’s Supervisory Board, of publicly calling […]

Since the Law and Justice (PiS)-led United Right coalition took power in 2015, we have witnessed an unprecedented level of politicisation of the public prosecution service, which has been transformed into a tool serving political and personal interests of the ruling camp and its members. This resulted in a growing number of politically motivated cases of investigations carried out primarily against those regarded as opponents of the government.

On February 1st, in the Warsaw headquarters of the OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODHIR), the three leaders of the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly’s (OSCE PA) human rights committee met with Polish civil society representatives at the forefront of defending the rule of law in the country. The purpose of the meeting was […]