Tag: prosecution service

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 […]

Following the change of government in October 2023, the new administration announced that it would restore the independence of the Public Prosecutor’s Office. A key step in this direction was to be an audit of politically motivated criminal cases initiated between 2015 and 2023. However, the Open Dialogue Foundation warns that the course and results […]

This study was prepared as a submission to the European Commission’s 2025 Rule of Law Report 1. Introduction Since assuming power in October 2023, Poland’s new, Civic Coalition-led government has initiated efforts to restore the independence of the Public Prosecutor’s Office, which had been compromised under the previous Law and Justice (PiS) administration and Prosecutor […]

On 21 November 2024, the Lublin Regional Prosecutor’s Office closed and later on 6 December discontinued the politically motivated case under the reference RP I Ds 34.2018 against Bartosz Kramek – Chair of Supervisory Board at the Open Dialogue Foundation (ODF). The decision was justified by the fact that the collected “evidence did not provide […]

“By a decision dated 6 December 2024, the Regional Prosecutor’s Office in Lublin discontinued the investigation against Bartosz Kramek,” reads the statement of the Prosecutor’s Office. In 2017, Bartosz Kramek published the text “Let the State Come to a Stop: Let’s Shut Down the Government”, which caused him many legal problems. Subsequently, he was detained […]

“The Provincial Public Prosecutor’s Office in Lublin discontinued the investigation against Bartosz K., Chair of the Supervisory Board of the Open Dialogue Foundation, which was related to providing false data in VAT invoices and a money-laundering scheme. The investigators determined that there were no grounds for filing charges,” reported the Polish Press Agency. The information […]

“One year after the change of power, yet hundreds of people are still being prosecuted by the Prosecutor’s Office on charges tailored by the Law and Justice party,” says Bartosz Kramek, Chair of the Supervisory Board of the Open Dialogue Foundation, in an interview with naTemat.  This includes organisers of local Women’s Strike, participants in […]

Several NGOs, Radio Wolna PL (Free Poland), Themis Judges Association and more than 30 public figures have submitted a public appeal to the Minister of Justice Adam Bodnar. The signatories draw attention to the need for a “fair, transparent and comprehensive review of politically motivated criminal proceedings” initiated during Zbigniew Ziobro’s days as Prosecutor General. […]

Warsaw, 29 November 2024 Prof. Adam BodnarAttorney General of the Republic of PolandMinister of Justice Prosecutor Dariusz KornelukNational Prosecutor Prosecutor Katarzyna KwiatkowskaChairperson of the Panel of Prosecutors to investigate cases of public interest by virtue of their subject matter and nature,conducted and completed between 2016 and 2023 Honourable Minister, Honourable Prosecutors, We, the authors of […]

The Law and Justice (PiS) losing power did not result in an automatic re-establishment of the rule of law and in the prosecution enforcing accountability vis-à-vis the perpetrators. Even within the prosecution, the Ziobro system persists and resists change. The Open Dialogue Foundation (ODF) had requested the National Public Prosecutor’s Office to review criminal proceedings […]

On 15 October 2023, the Open Dialogue Foundation launched its all-new project. ListyHańby (Hall Of Shame) is a new platform aimed at tracking the abuses of the rule of law in Poland committed by the political party PiS (Law and Justice) and its cronies during its majority government between 2015 and 2023.  Covering all levels […]

On 21 February this year, the first-ever civic hearing of the candidates for National Public Prosecutor was held. It was organised by Democracy Action (Akcja Demokracja), the Open Dialogue Foundation, the “Defensor Iuris” Bar Association (Stowarzyszenie Adwokackie Defensor Iuris), Władysław Bartoszewski’s Skwer Association, and Video-KOD. The purpose of the hearing was to: rebuild citizens’ trust […]

On 21 February this year, the first-ever civic hearing of the candidates for National Public Prosecutor was held. It was organised by Democracy Action (Akcja Demokracja), the Open Dialogue Foundation, the “Defensor Iuris” Bar Association (Stowarzyszenie Adwokackie Defensor Iuris), Władysław Bartoszewski’s Skwer Association, and Video-KOD. The purpose of the hearing was to: rebuild citizens’ trust […]

A civic hearing of the candidates for the office of the National Public Prosecutor was held on 21 February 2024. It was organised by Democracy Action (Akcja Demokracja), the Open Dialogue Foundation, the “Defensor Iuris” Bar Association (Stowarzyszenie Adwokackie Defensor Iuris), Władysław Bartoszewski’s Skwer Association, and Video-KOD. The purpose of the hearing was to: rebuild […]

The most prominent contenders are Katarzyna Kwiatkowska, Ewa Wrzosek and Dariusz Korneluk representing Lex Super Omnia. The other candidates for the office are two individuals whose careers flourished under Ziobro’s administration, i.e. a trade union activist, Jacek Skała, and Agnieszka Leszczyńska, Head of the Regional Prosecutor’s Office in Gorzów. By Friday 16 February 2024 at […]