Since the Law and Justice (PiS)-led United Right coalition took power in 2015, we have witnessed an unprecedented level of politicisation of the public prosecution service, which 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 primarily against those regarded as opponents of the government.
The below case is an extended version of a case presented in our upcoming report entitled “Polish Public Prosecutor’s Office: Selected Cases of Malicious Prosecution and Dereliction of Duties since 2015”, published with the cooperation of the Themis Judges’ Association, the Racist and Xenophobic Behaviour Monitoring Centre (OMZRiK) and ObyPomoc – Obywatele RP. The GetBack […]
On February 1st, in the Warsaw headquarters of the OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODHIR), the three leaders of the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly’s (OSCE PA) human rights committee met with Polish civil society representatives at the forefront of defending the rule of law in the country. The purpose of the meeting was […]
Read at: https://balkaninsight.com/2021/12/14/taking-the-fight-against-polands-government-into-the-international-arena/
After years of mostly ineffective protests against the dismantling of the independent judiciary, human-rights standards, relationship with the EU and, finally, against the ongoing deaths of migrants at the Belarus border, you’d be excused for thinking Poles must have lost hope. Indeed, some on the pro-European side of the expert circles fear Polish democracy might […]
On 26 October 2021, the District Court in Lublin refused to tighten the preventive measures imposed on Bartosz Kramek, the Head of the Board and a trustee of the Open Dialogue Foundation, finding them unreasonable and disproportionate. Thus, the court lifted the ban on leaving the country and the police probation, i.e. Bartek’s obligation to […]
In the past few weeks, we have filed a cassation appeal with the Supreme Administrative Court (NSA). We have appealed against the latest “judgment” which was issued by the Provincial Administrative Court (WSA) in Warsaw in July 2021 (which was served with us in September). Contrary to the three previous decisions, the “court” agreed, for the […]
Following the detention of our Supervisory Board Chair Bartosz Kramek in June 2021, the pro-government and public media further intensified their smear campaign against him and ODF. In response to a public appeal in support of Kramek, initiated by former Polish president Lech Wałęsa, Stanisław Żaryn, the spokesperson of the Minister-Coordinator for Special Services, personally […]
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.
In a letter sent on 2 August to Věra Jourová, Vice-president of the European Commission responsible for Values and Transparency, 10 MEPs have expressed their support for Bartosz Kramek and their opposition to the outrageous, politically motivated persecution carried out by the Polish government against him and the Open Dialogue Foundation, as well as other […]
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 […]
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 […]
– 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 […]
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. […]
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 […]
