Tomasz Sz., whose surname was withheld by prosecutors for legal reasons, is already the subject of a
European Arrest Warrant over accusations of espionage. The judge, who used to adjudicate on the Warsaw Administrative Court and was director of the powerful National Council of the Judiciary’s legal department, fled to Belarus in May and
claimed asylum on the grounds of political persecution.
The Regional Prosecutor’s Office in the southwestern Polish city of Wrocław has now applied to the courts for his arrest to enable him to be placed on the wanted list for alleged involvement in a hate campaign.
The Wrocław prosecution service said in a Friday statement that the case involved investigation of a number of public officials, including at the ministry of justice, who are believed to have committed crimes in connection with unauthorized processing and disclosure of
judges’ personal data.
The prosecution service said some of the information was given to journalists and posted on social media with a view to smearing judges who openly opposed judicial reforms enacted by Poland’s previous government.
Poland’s former government, led by the socially conservative Law and Justice (PiS) party, stands accused of instilling party apparatchiks within the judiciary to subjugate the system to political control. Reforms of the judicial service implemented by PiS were criticized by the EU as undermining the rule of law and politicizing the system. The rift led to billions of euros of EU funding being frozen by Brussels pending remedial measures by Warsaw.
“Members of the group also exceeded their powers by taking steps to initiate disciplinary proceedings against the aggrieved judges,” the statement said. “Actions taken by members of the criminal group were intended to publicly discredit judges, and to intimidate them, thereby discouraging them from criticizing judicial reforms.”
The Wrocław prosecution service is investigating accusations that the hate campaign was conducted in the justice ministry until August 2019 and has already pressed charges in the case against Tomasz Sz’s ex-wife, Emilia. She was charged in June, though prosecutors declined to give details.
Also in June, prosecutors applied to the Supreme Court for the immunity of four judges to be lifted with a view to bringing charges against them.
