The request for the arrest and compulsory detention of Ziobro has been submitted to the Polish Parliament.
Ziobro has already been fined for failing to appear for questioning before the Pegasus Committee.
The National Prosecutor’s Office has informed that the Attorney General, Adam Bodnar, has today submitted to the Speaker of the Polish Sejm, Szymon Hołownia, a request for the Sejm’s consent to arrest and forcibly bring the Member of Parliament, Zbigniew Ziobro, to the Sejm’s Investigative Committee for the Pegasus case.
Now, the Sejm will have to give its consent for the arrest.
The request concerning Zbigniew Ziobro was submitted to the Attorney General by the Sejm’s Investigative Committee for the Pegasus case. This follows the fact that the MP and former Minister in the PiS government has twice failed to appear for questioning as a witness. Ziobro had been properly notified of the hearings. The Warsaw District Court imposed a fine of 2,000 PLN on Ziobro for his failure to appear at the first scheduled hearing.
What is the context?
The Sejm’s Investigative Committee is conducting an inquiry into the purchase and use of the Pegasus surveillance software by the PiS government, which allegedly spied on members of the opposition at the time.
One of the key aspects of this case is the illegal purchase of Pegasus by the Central Anti-Corruption Bureau (CBA) using funds from the Justice Fund in 2017. This is why Zbigniew Ziobro, who oversaw the Fund at the time, is a crucial witness. The former minister initially avoided questioning due to health issues, having undergone surgery for cancer last year. He claimed he was unable to testify and provided medical certificates.
At the end of September 2024, the Pegasus Committee appointed an expert who concluded that, under appropriate conditions, Ziobro could participate in the questioning. Ziobro himself contested this opinion. However, when it became known in October that he appeared for questioning at the prosecutor’s office in connection with a different case, the committee lost patience. A motion for a fine was passed. Now, the committee is demanding his forcible detention.
The decision to allocate the funds to the CBA was signed not by Zbigniew Ziobro but by Michał Woś, the then Deputy Minister of Justice responsible for the Justice Fund. Woś testified before the Pegasus Committee in March 2024, explaining that the decision was about national security, not unwarranted surveillance. In August, Woś was charged in the National Prosecutor’s Office investigation regarding irregularities in the Justice Fund, specifically in connection with the decision to allocate 25 million PLN to the CBA for the purchase of Pegasus.