By Alan Charlish
WARSAW, Jan 12 (Reuters) – Zbigniew Ziobro, a former Polish justice minister granted asylum in Hungary, is no stranger to conflict, regularly unleashing tirades against “losers” and “wannabes” who opposed his judicial reforms or his approach to the European Union.
However, the tough-talking, gun-toting nationalist watched the latest battle in his turbulent career from afar, choosing not to return to Poland to face 26 charges including abuse of power and leading a criminal group.
Ziobro, 55, says he is the victim of a witch hunt by Prime Minister Donald Tusk’s pro-EU government, which has vowed to bring to justice members of the former right-wing Justice and Justice (PiS) administration accused of wrongdoing.
The former minister, who denies any wrongdoing, has been preparing for a showdown ever since PiS lost power in 2023.
Then, in a fiery address to parliament, he taunted his opponents about an earlier failed attempt to prosecute him for overstepping his authority during his first term as justice minister in 2005-07.
“I’m counting on you,” he shouted, addressing the benches of Tusk’s Civic Coalition (KO). “I hope you won’t turn out to be the same losers you were at the State Court!”
ALLEGED USE OF FUNDS
Prosecutors say Ziobro and several of his deputies misused millions of zlotys from a crime victims’ fund.
They say the money went to buy Pegasus spy software that was used against political opponents or to buy everything from fire trucks to equipment for country housewives associations to curry favor with rural voters.
Ziobro does not deny that money from the fund went to Pegasus, but says that this and all other expenses were in Poland’s national interest. He accuses the KO government of seeking revenge for investigating alleged corruption among Tusk’s associates.
“THE SHERIFF”
Ziobro studied law at the prestigious Jagiellonian University in his native Krakow. He joined PiS at its inception in 2001 and rose to prominence during an investigation into bribery allegations involving the center-left government of the time.
His no-nonsense approach to the meetings of the commission formed in 2003 to investigate the allegations earned him the nickname “The Sheriff”.
2006 saw the event that many political observers say had the greatest effect on him.
Ziobro’s father Jerzy died after heart surgery and his family blamed the doctors involved. Now Poland’s justice minister, he directly attacked surgeon Miroslaw Garlicki, telling reporters: “Nobody will be deprived of life by this man.”
Garlicki sued Ziobro, and the minister was forced by a court to issue a public apology.
Critics said Ziobro had sought to influence the investigation into his father’s death and that his exasperation with judges who failed to hold Garlicki accountable fueled his confrontational approach to a profession he said considered an “exceptional caste”.
JUDICIAL REFORMS
The judicial reforms he led when he returned as justice minister in 2015 were central to a conflict between Warsaw and Brussels over democratic standards that led to the withholding of billions of euros in EU funds.
Critics said the changes politicized the process of appointing and disciplining judges.
Ziobro also combined the roles of attorney general and justice minister, a move critics said compromised prosecutors’ independence. PiS said the reforms removed communist influence in the judiciary and improved efficiency.
Clashes with the EU caused disputes within the government, particularly between Ziobro and then-Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki, who favored a more conciliatory approach to Brussels.
“In negotiations you can’t be…soft, you have to be tough,” Ziobro said in 2020.
His decision to seek asylum in Hungary from the right-wing government of Prime Minister Viktor Orban – another long-term critic of the EU – prompted a prime minister in Tusk’s administration, Tomasz Siemoniak, to say Ziobro was fleeing Polish justice “like a coward”.
CANCER DIAGNOSIS
On the day the new parliament was sworn in in 2023, Ziobro was diagnosed with esophageal cancer.
While a parliamentary commission in Warsaw examined his role in alleged wrongdoing related to the Pegasus spyware, Ziobro underwent several surgeries and chemotherapy in Belgium.
PiS leader Jaroslaw Kaczynski said putting a man in Ziobro’s condition in prison would be “equivalent to a death sentence”.
But Ziobro himself remained typically combative.
“For using brutal and illegal methods, members of Donald Tusk’s regime currently ruling Poland will face serious consequences,” he said in a post on X Monday. “I will personally contribute to this fight.”
(Reporting by Alan Charlish, editing by Gareth Jones)