A year without justice. Out of power, yet PiS-instigated prosecutions drag on

A year without justice. Out of power, yet PiS-instigated prosecutions drag on

03.12.2024

“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 […]

Bodnar on top, Ziobro on the bottom. When will law and justice make a comeback?

Bodnar on top, Ziobro on the bottom. When will law and justice make a comeback?

07.09.2024

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 […]

Hall of Shame: ODF spearheards the reckoning of the Law and Justice

Hall of Shame: ODF spearheards the reckoning of the Law and Justice

25.05.2024

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 […]

The House of Cards Poland: The aftermath of the parliamentary elections on the rule of law

The House of Cards Poland: The aftermath of the parliamentary elections on the rule of law

17.01.2024

1. How did the parliamentary elections pan out? Following the parliamentary elections in October 2023, the political situation in Poland has changed substantially. According to the final count by the National Electoral Commission, turnout reached a record-setting 74.4%. In the lower house, the Sejm, the opposition, secured 248 seats, compared to the Law and Justice […]

Footing the bill for a prosecutor

Footing the bill for a prosecutor

20.10.2023

On 20 October 2023, the Vice-President & Executive Director of the Open Dialogue Foundation (ODF) Martin Mycielski and Chair of the Supervisory Board Bartosz Kramek were hosted by member of the State Tribunal, lawyer, and attorney Jacek Dubois in an interview entitled “Rachunek za prokuratora” (“Footing the bill for a prosecutor”).  In this hour-long interview, they […]

Entrepreneurs, you are not powerless. You have a vote!

Entrepreneurs, you are not powerless. You have a vote!

13.10.2023

The Law and Justice (PiS) Party and Ziobro arm themselves to strike fear into entrepreneurs; to strike them not with a stick, but with a truncheon. Michał Romanowski – Professor of commercial law, Warsaw University. Attorney-at-Law at the Romanowski i Wspólnicy Law Office. In a recent interview with Forbes, Arkadiusz Muś, one of Poland’s most […]

Open Dialogue Foundation at the 2023 OSCE WHDC

Open Dialogue Foundation at the 2023 OSCE WHDC

12.10.2023

Like every year, ODF took an active part in the OSCE’s Warsaw Human Dimension Conference. Unlike in 2022 we didn’t just focus the assembly’s attention on rule of law challenges in Poland, but also presented our findings on financial exclusion stemming from the abuse of AML/CFT laws by authoritarian states. The Warsaw Human Dimension Conference […]

Judges report on prosecutor harassment of business

Judges report on prosecutor harassment of business

11.10.2023

The Open Dialogue Foundation and the “Themis” Association of Judges have published a report outlining how the Polish public prosecutor’s office operated under the rule of Zbigniew Ziobro. Entrepreneurs speak out about harassment by investigators. The report features a number of stories of people who experienced repression by the public prosecutor’s office in Poland under […]

Cezary Szymanek: Public Prosecutor and Judge in Service of Party: How PiS Breaks  Businessmen

Cezary Szymanek: Public Prosecutor and Judge in Service of Party: How PiS Breaks Businessmen

11.10.2023

Not enough trees have been felled over the last eight years in the country to print reports on the scandals and wrongdoings not addressed by the Law and Justice (PiS) government. This is what it looks like: a raid by special service officers at 6.00 in the morning, a house search, handcuffs, and then detention […]

How Zbigniew Ziobro’s Public Prosecution Office “Broke Businessmen”. Report on Harassment

How Zbigniew Ziobro’s Public Prosecution Office “Broke Businessmen”. Report on Harassment

11.10.2023

At the beginning of the week, the Open Dialogue Foundation and the Association of Judges “Themis” (Polish: Stowarzyszenie Sędziów „Themis”) published a report that portrays the actions of the Public Prosecution Office under Zbigniew Ziobro in quite a terrible light. In this report, businessmen recount the harassment they have suffered at the hands of investigators. […]

How Zbigniew Ziobro’s Public Prosecutor’s Office ‘Broke Businessmen’s Backs’

How Zbigniew Ziobro’s Public Prosecutor’s Office ‘Broke Businessmen’s Backs’

11.10.2023

On Monday afternoon, at a meeting marking the publication of a report, former PKP (Polish Railways) head Jakub Karnowski and entrepreneurs Piotr Osiecki and Przemyslaw Krych spoke about the investigations and repression that have befallen them in recent years at the hands of the Polish Prosecutor’s Office. They spoke not only of bogus charges, detentions […]

ODF and Themis ‘Malicious Prosecution’ Report on Polish Public Prosecutor’s Office

ODF and Themis ‘Malicious Prosecution’ Report on Polish Public Prosecutor’s Office

07.10.2023

Together with the “Themis” Association of Judges, we are proud to present the latest version of the report on abuses of power perpetrated by the Polish public prosecutor’s office under the rule of Zbigniew Ziobro: “Selected Cases of Malicious Prosecution and Derelition of Duties“. Monday 9 October, 16:00 – there will be a live broadcast […]

Polish Public Prosecutor’s Office: Selected Cases of Malicious Prosecution and Dereliction of Duties since 2015

Polish Public Prosecutor’s Office: Selected Cases of Malicious Prosecution and Dereliction of Duties since 2015

06.10.2023

Preface Since the Law and Justice (PiS)-led United Right Coalition [Composed of PiS and its two junior partners – Solidarna Polska (United Poland, led by the Justice Minister/Prosecutor General Zbigniew Ziobro) and, until August 2021, Porozumienie Jarosława Gowina (Jarosław Gowin’s Agreement)] took power in 2015, an unprecedented politicisation of the public prosecution has occurred, which has […]

Punishing Philanthropy in Poland: Case of Przemysław Krych

Punishing Philanthropy in Poland: Case of Przemysław Krych

09.06.2023

This case study is an extended and updated description of the case of Przemysław Krych, which was originally included in the “Entrepreneurs and Executives” section of the report “Polish Public Prosecutor’s Office: Selected Cases of Malicious Prosecution and Dereliction of Duties since 2015”, published by the Open Dialogue Foundation and the “Themis” Association of Judges in February 2022.

Report of the Open Dialogue Foundation on the Public Prosecutor’s Office Under the Rule of the United Right Alliance

Report of the Open Dialogue Foundation on the Public Prosecutor’s Office Under the Rule of the United Right Alliance

29.09.2022

The Open Dialogue Foundation has compiled a report in which it furnishes evidence and examples of unprecedented politicisation of the Public Prosecutor’s Office since the moment the United Right Alliance (Zjednoczona Prawica) took power in Poland in 2015. The report provides examples of abuse of the Public Prosecutor’s Office by those in power, for whom […]

Select the amount of a one-time donation in Bitcoin