Krystyna Pawłowicz has lost a court case against the Open Dialogue Foundation (ODF). The former Law and Justice (PiS) MP and Constitutional Tribunal judge has been ordered to apologize for posts she published on X (formerly Twitter) in 2019. “For years, PiS politicians tried to destroy us with lies, hate campaigns and propaganda,” Marcin Mycielski, Vice President of the Foundation, told Fakt.
The Open Dialogue Foundation announced that the court had ordered Pawłowicz to publish an apology for posts containing “unreliable and false information, factually unsupported suggestions and insinuations.” The case concerns a series of posts in which the politician accused the Foundation’s President, Lyudmyla Kozlovska, of having ties to Russia.
Pawłowicz and Szynkowski vel Sęk Lose in Court to the Open Dialogue Foundation
Commenting on the ruling in an interview with Fakt, Marcin Mycielski, Vice President of the Open Dialogue Foundation, emphasized that this is another favorable judgment for the organization in recent months. The Foundation also won its case against PiS MP Szymon Szynkowski vel Sęk, who had likewise made defamatory statements about Lyudmyla Kozlovska and has also been ordered to issue an apology.
“For years, PiS politicians tried to destroy us with lies, hate campaigns and propaganda. Today, once again, the court has told them ‘enough.’ Krystyna Pawłowicz and Szymon Szynkowski vel Sęk were not anonymous internet commentators; they were people in power—a PiS MP and a Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs—who used their positions and public platforms to smear the Open Dialogue Foundation and Lyudmyla Kozlovska,” Mycielski told Fakt.
He added that similar judgments had previously been issued against Joachim Brudziński, Patryk Jaki, Maciej Wąsik and Dominik Tarczyński, as well as against individuals associated with media outlets supportive of PiS.
“When the state was in PiS’s hands, they behaved as though they could spread any slander with complete impunity. This judgment demonstrates that they could not,” the Foundation’s Vice President stressed.
Mycielski also noted that these rulings are significant not only for the Foundation itself.
“These judgments matter for all civil society organizations, activists and critics of those in power whom PiS sought to break through smear campaigns. The essence of this case is simple: if politicians are allowed to label their opponents as ‘Russian agents’ without consequences, democracy comes to an end and political gangsterism begins. Every such judgment restores a measure of fundamental justice and reminds us that the rule of law returns when prominent liars begin to lose to the truth,” he said.
The Foundation has announced that it will continue its legal battle. It intends to appeal the judgments in the cases against Pawłowicz and Szynkowski vel Sęk because it is also seeking financial penalties. In Pawłowicz’s case, the Foundation is seeking PLN 20,000, while in the case of the PiS MP it is seeking PLN 30,000.
Source: fakt.pl
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