In the previous Law and Justice (PiS) administration, the Public Prosecutor’s Office (PPO) had been significantly politically compromised. PPO, under the Prosecutor General Zbigniew Ziobro, was the institution which caused the most direct harm to Polish citizens in 2015-2023. It has systemically pursued (often only perceived) political and business opponents, quashed dissent, and silenced critical voices by instilling a chilling effect. In parallel, the prosecution service was used to shield ruling officials from accountability, concealing the ruling coalition’s own abuses of power, corruption, and other serious crimes.
Well over a year has passed since these dark times have officially ended. The Polish people rightfully expect the sins of the previous illiberal regime to be accounted for, its victims rehabilitated and perpetrators facing justice. Yet, the reality is, as usual, disappointing.
Poland’s new, Civic Coalition-led government and the new Justice Minister and Prosecutor General Adam Bodnar have promised to return the independence of the PPO, bring justice to its victims across society and assure accountability for the prosecutors who had abused power. One year on, the Open Dialogue Foundation (ODF), which has published annual reports documenting the abuses by the PPO under the previous PiS administration, analysed the nation-wide audit of the PPO’s cases and concluded that it raises serious doubts as to its effectiveness and the actual intentions of the new authorities. Not only has the audit not covered – at least for now – many key cases, but there is also substantial evidence that its scope is deliberately and consciously limited, contrary to public declarations by the minister and the prosecution’s leadership. Such an approach contradicts the very idea of the audit and calls into question the new government’s commitment to holding the previous administration accountable for abuses and delivering justice to its victims.
Call from civil society
The audit team at the National Prosecutor’s Office was established in response to a call from civil society in February 2024. A coalition of 34 organizations and 44 public figures, initiated by the Open Dialogue Foundation and led by former President Lech Wałęsa, issued an open letter to Minister Bodnar demanding an audit of political criminal cases from Ziobro’s tenure. For this reason, we feel entitled, and even obliged, to closely monitor the prosecution’s actions in this process.
In response to the open letter, the Minister outlined the scope of the review, which was to be conducted by dispersed teams of prosecutors nationwide, coordinated by a specially appointed team at the National Prosecutor’s Office.
The audit was supposed to cover cases involving opposition politicians, social activists, participants in anti-government protests, entrepreneurs, journalists, human rights defenders, and members of the judiciary and legal professions who had defended the rule of law.
Crucially, the review was meant to include cases at all procedural stages – prosecutors were expected to take additional steps at the preparatory stage (presumably, in politically motivated investigations, taking steps to dismiss unjustified cases) and to reassess the prosecution’s stance at the trial stage (potentially withdrawing indictments from courts where justified, using provisions from the so-called Lex Obajtek law).
This declaration was crucial in stopping the effects of politically driven prosecutions under Ziobro’s leadership, which continue to affect hundreds of individuals in Poland – still entangled in the justice system simply for opposing the previous administration. The Prosecutor General promised not only a review of cases but also concrete actions leading to their closure or withdrawal from courts where appropriate, ultimately rehabilitating victims of political repression.
However, in the following months, it became evident that the process was not only proceeding at an extremely slow pace (it took the National Prosecutor six months just to appoint the team!) but also that the actual scope of the audit might significantly diverge from initial promises. These concerns, combined with a lack of transparency from the prosecution, prompted NGOs to issue another appeal in November 2024.
Discrepancy between promises and the actual scope of the audit
The interim audit report, published on January 14, 2025, presents a different reality than initially promised. The audit appears incomplete and fails to meet the basic objectives outlined to the public.
A key discrepancy is the limitation of the audit’s scope to cases concluded by December 31, 2023. This completely excludes ongoing cases or those closed in 2024, such as those involving former railway executive Jakub Karnowski, former secret services head Paweł Wojtunik, or civic activist Bartosz Kramek.
If confirmed, this decision means that individuals still facing politically motivated proceedings must continue to endure the stigma of being “suspects” or “defendants,” with no hope for swift rehabilitation given the slow pace of court proceedings. Furthermore, it prevents the public from learning about political abuses by prosecutors whose baseless cases were closed after the government change – allowing them to evade consequences altogether.
Despite the new prosecutorial leadership’s initial declarations of a nation-wide audit, the number of cases under review is alarmingly low. The audit covers 600 cases, however, considering that Poland sees around one million preparatory proceedings initiated each year and just how much the service has been politicised since 2015, even if 99% suffered from no political abuses, this number seems suspiciously optimistic. It is difficult to view this as a comprehensive and complete review of politically motivated prosecutions, especially when many well-known cases with clear political overtones have been seemingly omitted.
An even greater issue is the lack of transparency in the selection of cases for the audit. The prosecutorial leadership has not disclosed the criteria for selecting cases, stating only that some were submitted by civil society organisations and others by provincial prosecutors, raising concerns about arbitrariness. For instance, even though ODF submitted around 100 cases (including 72 from its annual report), we found that only 22 of these made it into the interim audit report.
The list of cases that, for unclear or incomprehensible reasons, have not been included in the audit so far, is long. It includes investigations where the justice system was used to eliminate businesses and individuals inconvenient for PiS, such as those of investor and philanthropist Przemysław Krych, investor Piotr Osiecki, or entrepreneurs Leszek Czarnecki, Maciej Witucki, Tomasz Misiak, Maciej Bodnar, Robert Gmyrek, and Rafał Markiewicz. Also missing are high-profile cases involving executives of state-owned enterprises and government officials like Wojciech Kwaśniak, Marcin Fall, Patrycja Zielińska, or Paweł Wojtunik (only one of his cases was included in the audit so far). Finally, the audit does not include the politically motivated investigation with strategic national security implications against Michał Lubiński, formerly the primary supplier for the GROM special forces unit.
Consequences of a limited audit
Excluding key cases and the selective nature of the review have far-reaching consequences. Firstly, individuals still under indictment cannot expect a swift annulment of proceedings. Many victims remain exposed to the effects of political repression. This is particularly painful for entrepreneurs and executives of state-owned enterprises whose careers and lifelong businesses have been ruined, unable to recover as long as they carry the label of “defendant.”
Secondly, failing to hold accountable those responsible for many abuses and not prosecuting politically compromised prosecutors sets a dangerous precedent. If decisive action is not taken to support victims and politically compliant prosecutors face no consequences, the prosecution will remain an institution where political orders from the ruling party can be executed with impunity. Alarmingly, even where abuses have been identified, the names of prosecutors in the interim report were anonymised – allegedly to protect them from “stigma,” according to the Minister. But what about the stigma endured by their victims, labelled as suspects and defendants for years in PiS-controlled propaganda media?
Thirdly, the current form of the audit does not restore public trust in the justice system. A society that has witnessed the prosecution for political purposes for eight years expects genuine accountability and a transparent process. Limiting the audit to a small number of cases and the lack of transparency in case selection makes the entire effort appear to be merely a symbolic gesture in response to public pressure – a PR stunt forced by civil society rather than a genuine attempt to rectify past wrongs.
Ultimately, ensuring the completeness and full transparency of the audit process is crucial. The public has the right to know which cases are under review, what selection criteria were used, and what actions will be taken regarding both politically motivated cases and the prosecutors responsible for them. Without this, the audit will remain a superficial initiative that fails to deliver real justice to the many – or even most – victims of the previous government.
The ultimate test for the ruling authorities will be their willingness to carry out a full reckoning of the previous government’s abuses, with the necessary resources and a comprehensive approach. Only real actions can restore trust in the prosecution and justice for its victims – and allow all of us to finally put the dark era of Zbigniew Ziobro behind us.
The above text is a summary of the findings from the “audit of the audit” conducted by the Open Dialogue Foundation. Detailed observations, not only regarding deficiencies in the review process of political investigations but also concerning the overall process of restoring the prosecution’s independence under the leadership of Adam Bodnar, can be found in the report prepared as input to the European Commission’s annual Rule of Law Report, titled “Polish Public Prosecutor’s Office: Restoring Independence and Reviewing Politicised Criminal Cases in Poland”.
Source: verfassungsblog.de
