Warsaw court upholds detention order for former justice minister Zbigniew Ziobro, clearing path for US extradition
A Warsaw regional court has upheld the pre-trial detention order against former Polish justice minister Zbigniew Ziobro, opening the door for prosecutors to request his extradition from the United States, where he has been residing since leaving Hungary.
Court decision
A Warsaw regional court on Wednesday maintained the pre-trial arrest warrant for Zbigniew Ziobro, the former justice minister and Law and Justice (PiS) MP. The three-judge panel spent over eight hours, from 9:30 a.m. until 6:00 p.m., hearing appeals from Ziobro’s lawyers before announcing the ruling after 7:00 p.m. The written justification was postponed for seven days, but the court stated it found no grounds to overturn the February detention order.
The grounds for pre-trial detention have not ceased.
Extradition from the United States
Ziobro was already in Hungary when the District Court ordered his arrest on 5 February, having obtained international protection from Viktor Orbán’s government. After Orbán lost elections, Ziobro announced on 10 May that he was in the United States, claiming he had not fled Poland and was using documents granted with asylum rights in Hungary. Prosecutor Piotr Woźniak called his stay in the US “hiding.” Although a final detention ruling is not formally required for a US extradition request, Woźniak noted that US practice means such requests have only “a small chance of success” without one.
Justice Fund charges
The detention is part of an investigation into irregularities at the Justice Fund, a state-aid programme during the PiS government. Prosecutors accuse Ziobro of leading an organised criminal group and abusing his ministerial position to commit 26 crimes. He allegedly ordered subordinates to break the law to secure grants for favoured entities, interfered with competition processes, and allowed ineligible applicants to receive funding.
Even to a large extent, the prosecution’s charges against Ziobro are not substantiated.
Defence motions and recusal battles
Ziobro’s defence team, led by Bartosz Lewandowski and Adam Gomoła, filed a barrage of motions throughout the day. They sought to suspend the proceedings, recuse judge Anna Szymacha-Zwolińska because she had previously upheld the detention of former deputy minister Marcin Romanowski in a related case, and later recuse judge Adam Chocholak on grounds that his court delegation had been granted by the current justice minister Waldemar Żurek, who formally represents the Treasury as the injured party. All recusal requests and other motions were dismissed.
- Warsaw-Mokotów District Court orders pre-trial detention for Ziobro in Justice Fund probe
- Ziobro announces he is in the United States after leaving Hungary
- Appeals court excludes judge Dariusz Drajewicz from ENA procedure over bias concerns
- Warsaw Regional Court upholds detention order; US extradition can be pursued
Parallel ENA proceedings
Meanwhile, the Warsaw Court of Appeal on Tuesday removed judge Dariusz Drajewicz from handling a challenge related to the European Arrest Warrant (ENA) for Ziobro. The National Prosecutor’s Office had argued that Drajewicz’s career history, including delegations granted when Ziobro was justice minister and his appointment through the remodelled National Council of the Judiciary, raised legitimate doubts about his impartiality. Judge Anna Nowakowska was previously excluded from the same ENA case on similar grounds.
