VAC: Lyudmyla Kozlovska no longer an undesirable

VAC: Lyudmyla Kozlovska no longer an undesirable

After almost six years of legal battles, the Voivodeship Administrative Court (VAC) ordered that the pro-democracy activist and President of the Open Dialogue Foundation be removed from the list of people not allowed into Poland. Services subordinate to the Law and Justice party considered her a threat to Poland after ODF objected to the politicisation […]

Why should human rights defenders be protected from AML/CFT abuses by authoritarian authorities?

Why should human rights defenders be protected from AML/CFT abuses by authoritarian authorities?

On 8 December 2023, the President of the Open Dialogue Foundation participated in the panel discussion “Regulation as an Opportunity” at the Digital Finance Summit in Brussels. Lyudmyla Kozlovska gave a presentation on the consequences of the misuse of anti-money-laundering and counter-terrorist financing regulations. The event, moderated by journalist Jimmy Franklin and Toon Vanagt, CEO […]

BTC Coalition: summary of works 2022-2023

BTC Coalition: summary of works 2022-2023

1. Building True Change Coalition and Its Mission The Building True Change Coalition (BTC Coalition) is a global network of freedom fighters united by the mission of harnessing the power of Bitcoin to protect fundamental rights and promote financial inclusion. Its members include human rights defenders, political activists, Bitcoin entreprenuers and industry experts. The coalition […]

Behind the glass wall. How to turn a dissident into a terrorist and a fraudster

Behind the glass wall. How to turn a dissident into a terrorist and a fraudster

Russia is threatened with exclusion from the international system of combating money laundering. The issue of Russia’s inclusion on the blacklist of the organisation in question – the FATF (Financial Action Task Force) – was considered at Ukraine’s request at a recent FATF session. The decision has not yet been made, but it may be […]

Footing the bill for a prosecutor

Footing the bill for a prosecutor

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 […]

”Bitcoin is borderless” Conference — how to combat financial exclusion worldwide?

”Bitcoin is borderless” Conference — how to combat financial exclusion worldwide?

Lyudmyla Kozlovska, President of the Open Dialogue Foundation (ODF), participated in the Bitcoin Amsterdam Conference, which took place from 12 to 14 October 2023. During the panel discussion at the conference Bitcoin is borderless, she shared her story of how Bitcoin allowed her to fight for human rights, help Ukraine during the war, and deal […]

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

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

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

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

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 […]

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

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

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’

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

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 […]

Sakiewicz loses next case to Open Dialogue Foundation

Sakiewicz loses next case to Open Dialogue Foundation

The editor-in-chief of Gazeta Polska accused the Open Dialogue Foundation of being sponsored by Russian special services. However, before the court had even handed down its judgment, he still managed to turn the public prosecutor’s office against the people who run the Foundation, i.e., Lyudmyla Kozlovska and her husband, Bartosz Kramek. “Mr Tomasz Sakiewicz, who […]

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

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 […]

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