Since the Law and Justice (PiS)-led United Right coalition (composed of PiS and its two minor partners – Solidarna Polska and Porozumienie) took power in 2015, we have witnessed an unprecedented level of politicization of the public prosecution service that has been transformed into a tool serving political and personal interests of the ruling camp and its members. This resulted in a growing number of politically motivated cases of investigations carried out against those regarded as opponents of the government. The continuous changes to the criminal justice system (Criminal Code, Code of Criminal Procedure, Law on the Prosecutor’s Service) expand the powers of the prosecution, amplifying the so-called inequality of arms between the sides of the criminal proceedings and a general repressiveness of the system.
Tag: political prisoners
Italian politicians ask Kazakhstan’s ambassador for a meeting with political prisoner Bekizhan Mendygaziyev
On 30 July, Roberto Rampi, Member of the Italian Senate, together with Riccardo Magi and Mauro Del Barba, Members of the Chamber of Deputies, sent a letter to Kazakhstan’s ambassador to Italy, H.E. Sembayev Yerbolat, demanding an online meeting with political prisoner Bekizhan Mendygaziev. In the letter the Italian representatives have expressed their concern for […]
A trap. Interview with Bartosz Kramek for the ‘Asymetryści’ website
The Head of the Open Dialogue Foundation Board has been hunted by Poland’s secret services ever since he posted an online manifesto calling for a peaceful overthrow of the authoritarian rule of the PiS party. The foundation, which has gained recognition for its fight for human rights and democracy in post-Soviet countries, had to move […]
Online event: “Targeted Sanctions as a Tool to Safeguard Human Rights. The EU Legal Framework and National Initiatives”
On 15 April 2021, ODF co-hosted an online conference on the new EU Global Human Rights Sanctions Regime and the effectiveness of personal (targeted) sanctions in safeguarding human rights. The event was co-organised in partnership with the Italian Federation for Human Rights, the Crimean Tatar Resource Center, Freedom Kazakhstan Foundation and the Global Committee for […]
Belgian Senator Mark Demesmaeker writes a letter in support of ODF Board member Bartosz Kramek
In a letter addressed to the government of Belgium, Senator Mark Demesmaeker, member of the New Flemish Alliance (N-VA) and formerly Member of the European Parliament, has expressed his support for Bartosz Kramek and his opposition to the senseless and politically motivated persecution carried out by the Polish government against him and the Open Dialogue […]
Bartosz Kramek’ case. Italian senator on the intervention of the secret services spokesman: I have never seen anything like it
– At first I was sure it was a joke,” said Roberto Rampi in an interview with Onet. The Italian senator was one of the people to whom the spokesman of the coordinator of the special services, Stanisław Żaryn, wrote explaining the detention of social activist Bartosz Kramek from the Open Dialogue Foundation. According to […]
Kramek, you’ll never walk alone. Why does the arrest come now?
19 people came to the District Court in Lublin to post PLN 300 thousand bail for Bartosz Kramek. – As I was leaving the jail, a prison guard wished me “good luck fighting the regime”. — I am grateful to all those who vouched for me, verbally and financially. Thank you and let’s keep fighting. […]
They stood up for Bartosz Kramek. Stanisław Żaryn replies to the letter, shocking its addressees
The detention of Bartosz Kramek, the husband of the President of the Open Dialogue Foundation, Lyudmyla Kozlovska, by the Internal Security Agency, has caused an outrage. Mateusz Morawiecki, Zbigniew Ziobro and Mariusz Kamiński received an international appeal for the release of the human rights activist, to which the spokesman for the minister coordinator of special […]
President Lech Wałęsa’s appeal to release Bartosz Kramek
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.
Political arrest of Bartosz Kramek and electronic concentration camp in Kazakhstan. Open Dialogue Foundation at the OSCE SHDM
On 12-13 July our representative Maksym Sytnikov participated at the OSCE Supplementary Human Dimension Meeting (SHDM). SHDM is a platform for the OSCE Participating States and civil society to discuss progress made by the former in implementing OSCE commitments. The latest meeting was devoted to Digital Technologies and Human Rights. During the first session Maksym […]
MEPs call on Kazakhstan to cease persecution of Barlyk Mendygaziyev
On 29 June, MEPs Petras Auštrevičius (Renew), Nieklas Nienass (Greens), Isabel Santos (S&D), Helmuth Scholz (The Left), and Róża Thun und Hohenstein (EPP) have signed an appeal to Kazakhstan’s President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev to demand the liberation of political prisoner Bekizhan Mendygaziyev and the end of all acts of political persecution against his brother, human rights […]
Kajetan Wróblewski for Monitor Konstytucyjny: “Poor citizens are looking at the jail”
Or maybe they are turning their heads away, because they turn their heads as a result of the Kremlin-PiS propaganda. Since June 23, a political prisoner of the PiS party, Bartosz Kramek from the Open Dialogue Foundation, has been held in detention. On July 8, time runs out for him to pay PLN 300,000 bail, which would allow […]
The Open Dialogue Foundation: Kramek’s arrest is a Kafkaesque farce
In a special statement, the Open Dialogue Foundation (ODF) responded to accusations against Bartosz Kramek, an arrested activist and the husband of Lyudmyla Kozlovska, the head of the organisation. According to the foundation, the accusations are bizarre and the allegations are untrue. On Thursday, 25 June, acting on the request of the public prosecutor’s office, […]
Bartosz Kramek’s Case. A Featured Article by Fryderyk Zoll
The Open Dialogue Foundation strongly advocated in Brussels against the destruction of the rule of law in Poland. Ever since its inception, the Foundation has had to confront a series of bizarre attacks and slanders whose legitimacy cannot be verified by common citizens. However, one cannot deny that the ODF, which keeps on alerting European […]
Jurasz: Kramek arrest will spur negative international responses
“The case of Bartosz Kramek, following that of Lyudmyla Kozlovska, in which the Polish government utterly failed to convince others of its arguments, looks bad. I guess that his arrest will likely spur objections across the world. If Kramek and Kozlovska were playing with dirty money, they should be nailed by the authorities, but now […]
