Polish Parliament Votes to Force Ex-Justice Minister Ziobro to Testify in Spyware Probe
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Loading... - Belle Rolland
- 06 Dec 2024
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The Polish parliament has voted to detain former justice minister Zbigniew Ziobro and compel him to testify before a committee investigating the use of Pegasus spyware during the tenure of the Law and Justice (PiS) government. Ziobro, who served as justice minister from 2015 to 2023, has failed to respond to four summonses to appear before the committee, citing health issues related to his cancer treatment and questioning the legality of the committee itself.
On December 5, a majority of 241 MPs in the 460-seat Sejm, the lower house of parliament, supported a request from current justice minister Adam Bodnar to forcibly bring Ziobro in for questioning. This action was necessary due to Ziobro's legal immunity as a member of the Sejm. The vote saw almost unanimous support from the current ruling coalition, which spans from left to center-right, along with five votes from the left-wing Together (Razem) party. In contrast, 204 votes against the motion came primarily from the national-conservative PiS party, supported by the far-right Confederation (Konfederacja) and the small Republican group aligned with PiS.
Ziobro has expressed willingness to appear before a committee investigating Pegasus but insists it must be legally constituted. He stated, “No one who respects the law in Poland can recognize this pseudo-committee,” referring to the committee's legitimacy. He and other PiS members have pointed to a ruling by the Constitutional Tribunal (TK), which they claim found the committee improperly formed. However, the ruling majority has dismissed these claims, arguing that the TK itself is an unlawful body due to the improper appointment of its judges.
This parliamentary action marks a historic moment, as it is the first time in Polish parliamentary history that a witness has been forcibly brought to testify. Earlier this week, Piotr Pogonowski, the former head of the Internal Security Agency (ABW) during the PiS administration, was compelled to testify regarding his knowledge of the Pegasus spyware.
The Pegasus spyware was reportedly used to surveil nearly 600 individuals between 2017 and 2022, including political opponents of the PiS government. Following the establishment of a new ruling coalition in late 2023, prosecutors initiated investigations into the use of Pegasus, leading to the formation of a special parliamentary committee to examine the matter.
Marcin Bosacki, the deputy head of the committee, indicated that if parliament approved the motion to force Ziobro to testify, he could potentially be brought in for a hearing as early as January. Unofficial reports suggest that January 31 has been proposed as a possible date for his testimony.
As the investigation unfolds, the implications of this probe into the use of surveillance technology by the previous government could have significant ramifications for Polish politics and governance.
