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Political prosecution in Poland from 2015 to 2023 must be audited and victims rehabilitated

Written declaration No. 799 | Doc. 16049 | 30 September 2024

Signatories:
Mr Ryszard PETRU, Poland, ALDE ; Ms Meritxell ALCOBÉ, Andorra, ALDE ; Mr Gergely ARATÓ, Hungary, SOC ; Ms Magdalena BIEJAT, Poland, SOC ; Mr Jone BLIKRA, Norway, SOC ; Mr Bertrand BOUYX, France, ALDE ; Mr Theo BOVENS, Netherlands, EPP/CD ; Mr Iulian BULAI, Romania, ALDE ; Ms Naomi CACHIA, Malta, SOC ; Mr Ricardo CARVALHO, Portugal, EPP/CD ; Ms Bernadeta COMA, Andorra, ALDE ; Mr Yves CRUCHTEN, Luxembourg, SOC ; Ms Sabina ĆUDIĆ, Bosnia and Herzegovina, ALDE ; Mr Randolph DE BATTISTA, Malta, SOC ; Ms Gabriela HEINRICH, Germany, SOC ; Mr Patryk JASKULSKI, Poland, EPP/CD ; Mr Mogens JENSEN, Denmark, SOC ; Mr Claude KERN, France, ALDE ; Mr Konstantin KUHLE, Germany, ALDE ; Ms Carla MOONEN, Netherlands, ALDE ; Ms Valérie PILLER CARRARD, Switzerland, SOC ; Ms Catia POLIDORI, Italy, EPP/CD ; Mr Axel SCHÄFER, Germany, SOC ; Mr Carlos SILVA SANTIAGO, Portugal, EPP/CD ; Ms Annika STRANDHÄLL, Sweden, SOC ; Mr Kim VALENTIN, Denmark, ALDE

We, the undersigned, declare the following:

In Resolution 2316 (2020) and Resolution 2359 (2021), the Parliamentary Assembly expressed concern regarding the politicisation of the State prosecution service in Poland. In previous written declarations (Doc. 15458, Doc. 15574 and Doc. 15753), members alerted on specific cases of repression.

Following an appeal by 80 non-governmental organisations and public figures, initiated by the Open Dialogue Foundation, the Prosecutor General vowed to audit politically motivated criminal cases between 2015 and 2023. In August 2024, a dedicated team of prosecutors was put in place.

We welcome that the new government has started investigating such cases, and that some of the victims, such as Paweł Wojtunik or Jakub Karnowski, have already been partially rehabilitated. Yet, other politically motivated cases, including those of Przemysław Krych, Piotr Osiecki, Maciej Bodnar, Michał Lubiński, Rafał Markiewicz, Bartosz Kramek, Tomasz Misiak, Wojciech Łączewski and Marcin Fall, await similar re-evaluation.

We are also concerned with reports that political appointees of former minister Zbigniew Ziobro, responsible for the abuse, are still working in the State prosecution’s Organised Crime Department and its branches, auditing their own cases.

For this reason, we urge the Polish Government to conduct a full and transparent audit of all cases flagged by members, civil society and media, dismiss prosecutors who abused power and hold them accountable while rehabilitating their victims.