On Friday, a final judgement was handed down by the Court of Appeal in Warsaw in the case against Maciej Wąsik, who had been sued by the Open Dialogue Foundation.
According to the Open Dialogue Foundation (ODF), the former deputy minister under the Law and Justice (PiS) government, Maciej Wąsik violated its personal rights. His accusations concerned the Foundation’s alleged sources of funding. The politician also accused it of having ties with Russia and conducting ‘hybrid activities’, and the chair of the Foundation’s Supervisory Board, Bartosz Kramek, of calling for a coup in Poland.
In 2022, the Regional Court in Warsaw obliged Maciej Wąsik to apologise for the statements that were detrimental to the Foundation. Wąsik was also ordered to pay PLN 10,000 each to the founder and President of the Open Dialogue Foundation, Lyudmyla Kozlovska, to Bartosz Kramek and to ODF.
As wp.pl reports, on Friday the Court of Appeal in Warsaw dismissed Wąsik’s appeal and upheld the verdict of the court of first instance. Additionally, it ordered the defendant to pay the legal costs.
“The final judgement comes more than four years after the lawsuit was filed and more than five years after Maciej Wąsik’s first defamatory statements. As the court of first instance already noted, Wąsik used defamation in the political interest of his own party. During the previous court hearings, he tried to soften the tone of his words and hid behind a falire to recall. Earlier, he had referred to secret documents of the Internal Security Agency and supported the ‘pasquinade’ revelations of the pro-government ‘media’, which were intended to justify my wife’s expulsion from Poland – while ignoring the fact that they had been repeatedly refuted by the courts and deemed unreliable by other European Union countries,” Bartosz Kramek, chair of the Supervisory Board of the Open Dialogue Foundation, told the wp.pl portal.
Source: rp.pl
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In other media:
- Wprost: Wąsik loses in court against Kramek and Kozlovska’s Foundation. “I do not agree with the judgement” (February 23, 2024)
- Gazeta.pl: Wąsik guilty. “Used defamation in the political interest of his party” (February 23, 2024)
- Dziennik: New troubles for Wąsik: court issues final judgement (February 23, 2024)
- naTemat: Maciej Wąsik convicted again. He will be held accountable for his actions (February 23, 2024)
- Gazeta Wyborcza: Maciej Wąsik lost his lawsuit. He had no grounds to defame the activists and claim that they acted in support of Russia (February 23, 2024)
- Goniec: Maciej Wąsik convicted: court announces final judgment (February 23, 2024)
- Polsat News: Maciej Wąsik hears verdict. “I do not agree” (February 23, 2024)
- TVP Info: Maciej Wąsik hears another guilty verdict. Disagrees (February 23, 2024)
- OKO.press: Maciej Wąsik to apologise. Loses lawsuit against activists (February 23, 2024)
Read about the other lawsuits:
- Libel case win against Balli Marzec over hate speech and fake news lawsuit (January 26, 2024)
- Unprecedented court order to remove Lyudmyla Kozlovska’s Polish entry ban (January 25, 2024)
- Joachim Brudziński loses libel case over ‘money laundering’ claim (August 3, 2023)
- Polish state broadcaster TVP forced to apologise and pay damages following court verdict (July 4, 2023)
- Marcin Rey’s apology. Court settlement concludes the dispute (March 11, 2023)
- The Supreme Administrative Court: The ban on Lyudmyla Kozlovska’s entry into Poland is unjustified (December 9, 2022)
- Nazi “Gazeta Polska“ cover: Appeal court orders Tomasz Sakiewicz apology (August 23, 2022)
- ODF wins court case against Dominik Tarczyński MEP (August 15, 2022)
- 3:0 for Lyudmyla Kozlovska. Another court victory against Law & Justice party (April 19, 2021)
- Polish Radio executes interim measure re. ODF (May 6, 2020)
- 20 lawsuits filed against Law and Justice. Interim measure against TVP (October 11, 2019)
