At a press conference today, the Open Dialogue Foundation and its representatives disclosed the names of the media, journalists and politicians and other individuals being sued for spreading lies and violating the personal rights of Lyudmyla Kozlovska, Bartosz Kramek and the Open Dialogue Foundation itself.
The most recent order by Warsaw District Court to grant ODF an interim measure in a lawsuit being brought by Lyudmyla Kozlovska and Bartosz Kramek against Telewizja Polska S.A. sounds like a verdict of the Law and Justice Party propaganda. It exposes the pitiful nature of its lies and manipulation against people whom the Law & Justice Party considers enemies.
The Open Dialogue Foundation, a nongovernmental organisation that works to defend human rights and democratic liberties in post-Soviet states and Poland, was announced as an enemy by Law & Justice Party propagandists and politicians in July 2017. It was then, at the climax of public demonstrations against the Law & Justice Party’s “court statutes” (which made Polish courts practically dependent on Law & Justice Party politicians), that Bartosz Kramek published a Facebook post calling for a peaceful civil strike to prevent the government from going on with their anti-democratic activities. Since then, the Foundation has been subjected to defamatory attacks by Law & Justice Party media and persecuted by the entire state apparatus, and Lyudmyla Kozlovska herself was deported by Law & Justice Party’s secret services from the EU illegally, as a recent court judgment confirmed.
A long list of defendants
At a press conference today, the Open Dialogue Foundation and its representatives disclosed the names of the media, journalists and politicians and other individuals being sued for spreading lies and violating the personal rights of Lyudmyla Kozlovska, Bartosz Kramek and the Open Dialogue Foundation itself.
The Law & Justice Party politicians being sued (the numbers in brackets next to the names below are the amounts of compensation claimed in thousands of zlotys in addition to the publication of apology statements in the media by each of them at their own expense) include: Krystyna Pawłowicz (15), Jacek Saryusz-Wolski (30), Witold Waszczykowski (30), Joachim Brudziński (30), Ryszard Czarnecki (30), Dominik Tarczyński (15), Patryk Jaki (15), Maciej Wąsik (30) and Szymon Szynkowski a.k.a. Sęk (30).
Claims have also been filed against the following publishers and editors-in-chief: the weekly Sieci (Fratria, Jacek Karnowski), the wPolityce.pl portal (Fratria, Marzena Nykiel), the Gazeta Polska newspaper (Niezależne Wydawnictwo Polskie, Tomasz Sakiewicz).
Also, private prosecutions have been brought against the following journalists supporting the Law & Justice Party government: Marek Pyza, Marcin Wikło, Wojciech Biedroń (notorious for his collaboration with Little Emi, the famous female hater engaged in defaming court judges who object to the activities of the Law & Justice Party) and Witold Gadowski, as well as against Marcin Rey, who is the author of the “report” that was one of the sources of defamatory statements against the claimants (see link 1 for more), and Ballia Marzec, president of the Wspolnota Kazachska Association, who published social media statements saying that, for example, the Foundation wants to kill Jarosław Kaczyński (followed by herself, as No.2 on the list of “priorities”), and who was dubbed by right-wing media an “expert on the Kramek family” (2, 3).
Politically-controlled Polish state television (TVP) strongly criticised by court
The focal point of the conference was the statement that court claims had already been filed against Polish Radio and Polish state television (TVP), with the President of the Open Dialogue Foundation and the President of the Foundation Board having requested apologies, the retraction of false statements and PLN 200,000 in compensation for each of them, and the statement on the most recent order by the District Court in Warsaw to grant ODF an interim measure until the case is finally decided. The court ordered that, until the case is finally settled, Polish state television (TVP) is to publish the following statement before broadcasting any of its 38 (!) productions relating to the Foundation: “Telewizja Polska S.A. with its registered office in Warsaw, informs you that the allegations made against Lyudmyla Kozlovska, Bartosz Kramek and the Open Dialogue Foundation in this material are the subject of a lawsuit in defence of personal interest against Telewizja Polska S.A. that is pending before the District Court in Warsaw.”
The order, issued by Judge Mariusz Solka, is accompanied by more than 40 pages of the court’s reasons for the decision, where each of TVP’s 38 productions is discussed one by one. The court has found that each of these productions by TVP’s president, Jacek Kurski, violates the personal rights of Lyudmyla Kozlovska, Bartosz Kramek and the Open Dialogue Foundation, pointing out inaccuracy, manipulation, a biased attitude, references to unreliable sources, publication of unverified information, presenting insinuations as facts and telling lies. The court order is an in-depth analysis of the “Law & Justice Party media deal” that is not intended to deliver facts to the public, but rather to denigrate the Law & Justice Party’s political opponents in the eyes of the public.
It is all the more important because it is the work of an independent court, not of some politically affiliated experts. What is more, it covers a very large number of TV productions, not just isolated incidents (which are the norm there).
The court as a guardian of constitutional rights
This vivisection of the Law & Justice Party propaganda (yes, a vivisection, not an “autopsy” as suggested by the optimistically worded headline – the monster is still alive and doing well) is not likely to appeal to most Law & Justice Party supporters or to make them believe the critical analysis of the media fodder being served to them. After all, there is a type of audience (on both sides of the political dispute in Poland) that is not interested in facts, but rather in strengthening their beliefs. Any attempt to review these beliefs would make them lose their sense of mental comfort, and feeling comfortable is more important to them than the truth is. This idea behind this sense of “information comfort” on the Law & Justice Party side is that no-one questions the “facts” that Kozlovska and Kramek are Russian spies who attempted the only forceful overthrow of a Polish government since the time of Mieszko I, the first ruler of Poland. What is more, Polish courts are occupied by a “caste” (Law & Justice Party supporters are disappointed that it is the “caste” of Plebiak and Little Emi), so their orders and judgments are merely a political demonstration against the Law & Justice Party, not an expression of the rule of law. And the hate propaganda by the politically-controlled Polish state television (TVP) against Kozlovska and Kramek is an expression of “pluralistic journalism”. The members of this audience are unlikely to understand what Judge Solka made so clear in his reasons for the order in favour of Lyudmyla Kozlovska and Bartosz Kramek:
“(…) one cannot agree with the assertions made by the Defendant [Polish state television (TVP)] in its press materials, implying that the Claimants attempted to overthrow a democratically elected Polish government. The word overthrow is commonly understood as the seizure of power by force, with the use of violence, whereas the overthrowing of a government through the idea of civil disobedience rules out any use of violence, and the final seizure of power should happen in a democratic process. (…)
“Whether or not such activities were reasonable, it needs to be noted that the Claimant’s activities (which the Defendant also equated with the activities of the Foundation) fell within the limits of constitutional freedom of expression.”
Law & Justice Party’s punishment for exercising constitutional rights
“A court is a court, but we must have justice on our side;” this well-known quote from a Polish film seems to be the response to Judge Solka’s “sophistication“ from the entire state apparatus in the hands of the Law & Justice Party and its media confidants. In practical terms, Lyudmyla Kozlovska and Bartosz Kramek have, for more than two years, been harassed, persecuted and slandered by the Law & Justice Party’s “closed circuit” for exercising their constitutional right to express their opinions.
Attempts were made by Minister Witold Waszczykowski, instigated by Mariusz Kamiński, the minister for secret services, to take control of the Foundation, but he lost a court case, so his brother, Tomasz, is having tax inspections carried out at the Foundation, but he can’t find any irregularities, so he wants to make it pay a tax on gifts sent to Ukraine. The Law & Justice Party media keep spreading fake news, like revealed truths originating from Kazakh, Moldovan and Russian secret services(5). They make further ill-founded allegations supported by no evidence whatsoever (6), unless the fact the Foundation acted more professionally than other nongovernmental organisations is interpreted as an “allegation”(!).
The Law & Justice Party secret services are compromising themselves and Poland in the EU and globally. They are violating human rights and international conventions by illegally deporting Lyudmyla Kozlovska from the EU, which the intelligence services and governments of several European countries have revealed to the Law & Justice Party in a way that hurt. As a result, Kozlovska was granted a residence permit by Belgium, and a Polish court pointed out the illegality of the deportation decision (7). The Law & Justice Party secret services even make use of the secret services of Moldova, a country governed by a billionaire and pimp who was recently overthrown with the assistance of the United States and the EU! (8)
Uncertain optimism
Bartosz Kramek, despite all this persecution, is full of cautious optimism:
“We are keeping our word. We have said many times before that we would take legal steps against all those engaged in spreading lies about us. We are pleased to learn that there are still independent courts in Poland, where individuals and organisations such as ours can defend their rights and stand a chance of fair and just decisions, regardless of any political pressure or propaganda attacks.”
One would like to share his belief that what is started before an independent court will be finally decided before such a court. However, what Jarosław Kaczyński, the “president” of all Poles says his plans are dispels no doubts: if the Law & Justice Party wins the parliamentary election, it will continue its reform of the judiciary.
Independent judges themselves may face criminal charges for simply passing judgments that the authorities do not like, which, in fact, has been the case for a long time. If the Law & Justice Party wins the parliamentary election, things may only get worse. After all, the experience of the last four years shows that the Law & Justice Party can simply refrain from doing what it is required to do by court orders, if they find them inconvenient.
For now, however, we should enjoy the fact that Polish courts still have judges such as Judge S., who appreciates the idea of civil disobedience and is not afraid of taking decisions for which he will certainly not be praised by the authorities. It is evident from the reasons for his decision that the document calling for the Law & Justice Party to respect European public media standards was, by any means, exaggerated (9). It was a document signed by 54 members of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe and reads: “The activity of TVP in the run-up to the upcoming parliamentary election indicates that the public media continue to act as a shameless propaganda channel for the ruling party”. October 13 will be the day when this can be changed.
Source: obywatele.news
Read also:
