Mr Mateusz Morawiecki
Prime Minister of the Republic of Poland
Mr Zbigniew Ziobro
Minister of Justice, Prosecutor-General
Mr Mariusz Kamiński
Minister of the Interior and Administration, Minister-Coordinator of Secret Services
Gdańsk, 14 July 2021
Dear Prime Minister, dear Ministers,
We are writing to express our deep concern about the detention of Mr Bartosz Kramek, a Polish activist and the Chair of the Supervisory Board of the Open Dialogue Foundation (ODF), a Poland-based international NGO on the frontlines of the fight for the rule of law in the country. Since 2017, ODF, its activists and associated entities have become targets of multiple government-sponsored attacks and disinformation campaigns in retaliation for their much-needed watchdog activities, including keeping EU bodies apprised of the alarming developments in the country.
On 23 June, at 11:00, Mr Kramek was arrested by Internal Security Agency (ABW) officers, at the request of the Regional Prosecutor’s Office in Lublin, Poland [The detention of a well-known activist and chairman of the ODF Council was widely commented on in the Polish press]. After his detainment, he was transported from Warsaw to Lublin to be presented with “charges” and questioned. On 24 June 2021, the Prosecutor requested the court to place Mr Kramek under unconditional pre-trial detention. The day after, on 25 June 2021, the court approved placing him under detention with a bail of 300,000 PLN to be delivered by 8 July 2021. The prosecutor filed an objection, which means that, irrespective of the payment, Mr Kramek will not be released until the court’s decision becomes final, that is, until the second-instance court examines the prosecutor’s appeal. If the court agrees, a well-known government critic and civic activist will be put behind bars for at least 3 months, making him a political prisoner in an EU Member State.
We believe that the case against Mr Kramek and ODF is an example of the government’s efforts to silence its critics and induce a chilling effect on civil society. It is important to note that, under the current government, the public prosecution service has been completely politicised and made subordinate to the party in power. Using tactics known from states like Russia, Belarus or Turkey, the prosecutor’s office accuses Mr Kramek of “hiding funds in tax havens”, “laundering dirty money,” and “having ties to shady businesses”, implying an illegal source of ODF’s funds, which were then supposed to finance the Foundation’s “actions against the interest of Poland”. The same accusations were used to place the wife of Mr Kramek and the President of ODF, Mrs Lyudmyla Kozlovska, on the Schengen Information System (SIS) blacklist. The Warsaw Voivodeship Administrative Court, which had access to the file, revoked the decisions on her inclusion three times, stating that the materials provided by the Internal Security Agency were “generic” and “insufficient to make a decision on refusal”.
Since 2017, when ODF took a public stance against PiS’s full-scale assault on the rule of law in Poland, it has become the target of persecution by government agencies and the media which support the ruling coalition. Among others, in the last few years, the Foundation was subjected to repeated customs and fiscal inspections that did not reveal any irregularities. The Polish government was also unable to provide reasons for refusing to grant a residency permit in Poland to Mrs Lyudmyla Kozlovska – the wife of a Polish citizen – and to provide justification to other EU Member States for placing her on the SIS blacklist. It is worth noting that this listing was ignored by, among others, the governments of Germany, France, Belgium and Switzerland as well as the United Kingdom.
As you are no doubt aware, as a counter-offensive, ODF filed around 20 lawsuits against the ruling party’s officials and their cronies in 2019. Those cases that have been resolved have been victorious for ODF. In fact, the day before his detainment, Mr Kramek flew into Warsaw to attend the trials which form a part of ODF’s legal counterattack. Thus, we believe the timing of your actions is not a coincidence.
The arrest also suspiciously coincided with the introduction of a new, controversial law, complicating the process of posting bail and granting the prosecutor the power to reject it, as well as with ODF’s planned launch of a “Hall of Shame” platform with draft indictments against the party leadership, its cronies & even individual police officers abusing their power when using violence against protesters.
Finally, we find it strange that the Polish government seeks legal help from the Russian government despite the fact that, as documents show, neither ODF nor Mr Kramek’s company had any business relations with Russia. Any activities carried out by the Foundation in Russia are solely devoted to the protection of human rights. Likewise, “intelligence” from formerly corrupt Moldovan authorities, which ODF was in conflict with over human rights violations, does not seem particularly credible.
We urge you to immediately release Mr Kramek and cease the political persecution of the Open Dialogue Foundation. There is no reason to fear that, if necessary, Mr Kramek will not appear in court, making his detention unsubstantiated and thus unlawful. The prosecution has also separated Mr Kramek from his wife, who resides in Belgium and is barred from seeing him due to the entry ban you keep in place despite the three aforementioned court rulings obliging you to lift it. Such actions run counter to EU principles and the community of democratic countries grounded in the rule of law and the respect for human rights. Until Mr Kramek is released, we – just as the international community at large – will perceive him as a political prisoner, and your actions as comparable to those of undemocratic states like Russia, Belarus or Turkey.
Yours sincerely,
Lech Wałęsa, former President of the Republic of Poland & Nobel Peace Prize laureate
with
Prof. Bruce Ackerman, Sterling Professor of Law and Political Science, Yale University, USA
Prof. Alberto Alemanno, HEC Paris, France
Kaliaskar Amrenov, former political prisoner and human rights activist, Kazakhstan
Maksut Appasov, former political prisoner and human rights activist, Kazakhstan
Prof. Leszek Balcerowicz, former Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Finance, Poland
Prof. Andrzej Blikle, entrepreneur, Master in Confectionery, Poland
Robet Biedroń, Member of the European Parliament (S&D), Poland
Michał Boni, former Minister and Member of the European Parliament (EPP), Poland
Michał Broniatowski, journalist, Onet.pl, Poland
Serhiy Burov, Director of the Educational Human Rights House, Ukraine
Andrew Chernousov, Vice-Chair of the Kharkiv Institute for Social Research, Ukraine
Prof. Piotr Chrząstowski, University of Warsaw, Poland
Halyna Coynash, Kharkiv Human Rights Protection Group, Ukraine
Prof. Paul Craig, St John’s College, Oxford University, UK
Wojciech Czuchnowski, journalist, Gazeta Wyborcza, Poland
Mark Demesmaeker, Senator, former Member of the European Parliament (ECR), Belgium
Gunnar M. Ekelove-Slydal, Deputy Secretary-General, Norwegian Helsinki Committee, Norway
Dr. Gerhard Ermischer, President of CINGO of the CoE, Austria
Władysław Frasyniuk, former “Solidarity” oppositionist & Freedom Union Chairman, Poland
Beata Geppert, French literature translator & activist, Poland
Ana Gomes, Ambassador (retired), former Member of the European Parliament, Portugal
Igor Grigoriev, political refugee in Spain, electoral expert, Moldova
Prof. Gábor Halmai, European University Institute, Florence, Italy
Agnieszka Holland, film director, President, European Film Academy, Poland
Emin Huseynov, Executive Director, Institute for Reporters’ Freedom and Safety, Azerbaijan
Serik Idyryshev, former political prisoner, Kazakhstan
Pavel Ivlev, chairman, Committee for Russian Economic Freedom, United States
Bota Jardemalie, political refugee, lawyer, human rights defender, Belgium
Danuta Jazłowiecka, Member of the European Parliament (EPP), Poland
Nurgul Kaluova, former political prisoner and human rights defender, Kazakhstan
Jakub Karyś, President, Committee for the Defence of Democracy, Poland
Paweł Kasprzak, political & human rights activist, leader of the Obywatele RP movement, Poland
Daryn Khasenov, former political prisoner and human rights defender, Kazakhstan
Daniyar Khassenov, human rights defender & victim of political persecution, Kazakhstan
Nikolay Koblyakov, President, Russie-Libertés, France
Prof. Dimitry Kochenov, CEU Democracy Institute, Hungary
Jakub Kocjan, co-leader of the Student Anti-Fascist Committee at Warsaw University, Poland
Marek Kossakowski, anti-communism oppositionist, fmr leader of the Green Party, Poland
Igor Kotelianets, Head, “Association of relatives of political prisoners of the Kremlin”, Ukraine
Jacek Kucharczyk, sociologist, President, Institute of Public Affairs, Poland
Danuta Kuroń, former “Solidarity” anti-communist oppositionist
Jarosław Kurski, First Deputy Editor-in-Chief, Gazeta Wyborcza, Poland
Marta Lempart, co-leader of the Polish Women’s Strike, Poland
Linus Lewandowski, Leader of Homokomando, Poland
Tomasz Lis, Editor-in-Chief, Newsweek Polska, Poland
Krzysztof Lisek, former Member of the European Parliament (EPP), Poland
Oleksandra Matviichuk, Head of the Board, Center for Civil Liberties, Ukraine
Wojciech Maziarski, journalist, writer, anti-communist oppositionist, Gazeta Wyborcza, Poland
Prof. Kalypso Nicolaidis, European University Institute, Italy and University of Oxford, UK
Bartłomiej E. Nowak, politologist, economist, Vistula Group of Universities President, Poland
Ilia Novikov, former defence lawyer of President Petro Poroshenko, Ukraine/Russia
Nurbol Onerkhan, former political prisoner, Kazakhstan
Alex Orlowski, expert in digital political communication and online propaganda, Italy
Vladimir Osechkin, refugee, President of New dissidents foundation and Gulagu.net project, France
Eugen Panov, former political prisoner of the Kremlin, Ukraine
Prof. Laurent Pech, Head of Law & Politics Department, Middlesex University, UK
Tetiana Pechonchyk, Head of the Board, Human Rights Center ZMINA, Ukraine
Prof. Vlad Perju, Boston College Law School, USA
Prof. Thomas Perroud, Université Panthéon-Assas, France
Prof. Tadeusz Pilch, University of Warsaw, Poland
Prof. Sébastien Platon, University of Bordeaux, France
Wojciech Przybylski, Editor-in-Chief, Visegrad Insight, Chairman at Res Publica Nowa, Poland
Dominik Puchała, co-leader of the Student Anti-Fascist Committee at Warsaw University, Poland
Helen Pushkarskaya, Associate Research Scientist, Lecturer, Yale School of Medicine, USA
Piotr Pytlakowski, screenwriter and journalist, “Polityka” weekly, Poland
Vadym Pyvovarov, Executive Director, Association UMDPL, Ukraine
Piotr Rachtan, Editor-in-Chief, The Constitutional Monitor, Poland
Jacek Rakowiecki, journalist, anti-communism oppositionist, Poland
Roberto Rampi, Senator, Member of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe, Italy
Anna Rurka, Past-President, Conference of INGOs of the Council of Europe
Kostiantyn Rieutskyi, Executive Director, Charity Foundation East SOS, Ukraine
Prof. Susan Rose-Ackerman, Emeritus, Yale University, USA
Prof. Wojciech Sadurski, University of Sydney and University of Warsaw, Australia/Poland
Isabel Santos, Member of the European Parliament (S&D), Portugal
Mikhail Savva, Chairman of the Board, Expert Group “OWL”, Ukraine
Prof. Stefan Schennach, Member of the Austrian Parliament and PACE, Austria
Prof. Kim Lane Scheppele, Princeton University, USA
Anna Schmidt-Fic, teacher, leader of Protest with Exclamation Mark, Poland
Helmut Scholz, Member of the European Parliament (GUE/NGL), Germany
Oleg Sentsov, filmmaker, former political prisoner of the Kremlin, Ukraine
Sebastian Słowiński, co-leader of the Student Anti-Fascist Committee at Warsaw University, Poland
Yegor Soboliev, former journalist and People’s Deputy of Ukraine, Ukraine
Prof. Antonio Stango, President, Italian Federation for Human Rights, Italy
Maximilian Steinbeis, Editor-in-Chief, Verfassungsblog
Katya Stelmakh, lawyer, Stelmakh & Associates LLC law firm, USA
Jaromír Štětina, former Member of the European Parliament, Czech Republic
Klementyna Suchanow, author, co-leader of the Polish Women’s Strike, Poland
Helena Szmuness, former BBC journalist, daughter of prof. Wolf Szmuness, Poland
Łukasz Szopa, Wiceprzewodniczący Komitetu Obrony Demokracji
Prof. Dariusz Szostek, University of Opole, Poland
Marcin Święcicki, former Minister and Mayor of Warsaw, Poland
Róża Thun, Member of the European Parliament (EPP), Poland
Ugur Tok, Director, Platform for Peace and Justice, Belgium
Bakhytzhan Toregozhina, Head, Ar.Rukh.Khak, Kazakhstan
Ekaterina Tskhai, human rights defender, Kazakhstan
Ana Ursachi, lawyer, human rights defender, Moldova/Belgium
Liviu Vovc, Former member of Moldovan Parliament, Vice President of the political Party Dignity and Truth, Moldova
Julie Ward, former Member of the European Parliament (S&D), UK
Prof. Josef Weidenholzer, former Member of the European Parliament (S&D), Austria
Bartosz T. Wieliński, Deputy Editor-in-Chief, Gazeta Wyborcza, Poland
Andrzej Wielowieyski, former MEP, senator and “Solidarity” oppositionist, Poland
Kajetan Wróblewski, journalist, “Asymetryści” foundation, Poland
Ali Yildiz, attorney, member of the Ankara and Brussels bar associations, Turkey
Leyla Yunus, Director, Institute for Peace and Democracy, Sakharov Prize laureate, Azerbaijan
Arif Yunusov, former political prisoner and human rights defender, Azerbaijan
Iskander Yerimbetov (with family), former political prisoner, political refugee, Switzerland
Tomáš Zdechovský, Member of the European Parliament (EPP), Czech Republic
Zhanat Zhamaliyev, former political prisoner and human rights defender, Kazakhstan
Mykhailo Zhernakov, Chair of the Board, DEJURE Foundation, Ukraine
Prof. Fryderyk Zoll, Jagiellonian University, Poland
Beata Zwierzyńska, Member of the Standing Committee, Conference of INGOs of the Council of Europe, Poland
as well as
Ar.Rukh.Khak, Kazakhstan
“Association of relatives of political prisoners of the Kremlin”, Ukraine
Cień Mgły: oddolne wsparcie Strajku Kobiet, Poland
DEJURE Foundation, Ukraine
Education in Action, Poland
Freedom Advocacy Human Rights Foundation, Austria
Global Committee for the Rule of Law “Marco Pannella”, Italy
Homokomando, Poland
The Hope Project Polska Foundation, Poland
Human Rights Foundation “Freedom Kazakhstan”, USA
Human Rights Movement “405”, Kazakhstan
Human Rights Movement “BostandyQ”, Kazakhstan
Human Rights Movement “Elimay”, Kazakhstan
Human Rights Movement “Femina Virtute”, Kazakhstan
Human Rights Movement “Veritas”, Kazakhstan
Institute for Reporters’ Freedom and Safety, Azerbaijan
Institute of Public Affairs, Poland
Italian Federation for Human Rights, Italy
New dissidents foundation and Gulagu.net project, France
Obywatele RP (Citizens of the Republic of Poland), Poland
Platform for Peace and Justice, Belgium
Protest with Exclamation Mark, Poland
“Qaharman” Human Rights Foundation, Kazakhstan
Safeguard Defenders, Spain
Student Anti-Fascist Committee at Warsaw University, Poland
“Themis” Association of Judges, Poland
The Arrested Lawyers Initiative, Belgium
The Article 14 Human Rights Movement, Kazakhstan
