Warsaw court upholds arrest warrant for Zbigniew Ziobro, extradition from US to follow

What the court decided

After a day‑long session that began at 9:30 a.m. and ended after 7 p.m., a three‑judge panel of the Warsaw District Court, composed of judges Adam Chocholak, Danuta Grunwald and Anna Szymacha‑Zwolińska, rejected the appeals filed by Zbigniew Ziobro’s defence against a February 5 pre‑trial detention order. Spokesperson Judge Anna Ptaszek told reporters that “all grounds for detention were met, including the risk of tampering, the threat of a severe penalty, and the risk of flight and hiding.”

The court found that the most serious charges, those involving substantial damage to the State Treasury, were sufficiently substantiated, while a few lesser charges were not. “The court did not rule on guilt or innocence at this stage,” Ptaszek stressed. The written justification of the decision was postponed for seven days.

“The court ruled that the most important charges, concerning the most serious offences where there is significant damage to the State Treasury, have been made credible.”

The charges and the Justice Fund scandal

Prosecutors accuse Ziobro of leading an organised criminal group and abusing his ministerial position to steer funds from the Justice Fund, a state‑run programme, to hand‑picked entities. The indictment lists 26 criminal acts, including ordering subordinates to break the law, manipulating grant competitions, and approving payments to ineligible recipients. The investigation alleges the mismanagement of around 150 million złoty.

Defence lawyer Bartosz Lewandowski called the charges “politically motivated” and noted that the court itself recognised eight of the allegations as insufficiently substantiated. Nevertheless, the panel concluded that the core of the case justified the strictest preventive measure.

“These charges are politically motivated.”

Ziobro’s path to the United States

Towards the end of 2025, Ziobro left Poland and obtained political asylum in Hungary under the then‑government of Viktor Orbán. After Orbán lost power, Ziobro announced on May 10 that he had moved to the United States. He maintains that he is not a fugitive and travels on a document linked to his Hungarian asylum status. In the U.S. he has begun cooperating with TV Republika.

Prosecutor Piotr Woźniak described Ziobro’s stay abroad as “hiding” and said the failure to return to Poland underpins the flight‑risk argument.

What happens next: extradition

With the final detention order now in place, the National Prosecutor’s Office will prepare an extradition request to the United States. “The extradition request will be drafted immediately,” said Woźniak, indicating he may wait for the written justification to strengthen the filing. He noted that in U.S. practice, requests without a definitive domestic detention order “have little chance of success.”

Separately, a European Arrest Warrant proceeding is under way. On the same day, the Warsaw Court of Appeals removed Judge Dariusz Drajewicz from that case after the prosecution raised doubts about his impartiality, Drajewicz had been delegated to higher courts under Ziobro’s tenure and was nominated to the judicial council by PiS lawmakers. Another judge, Anna Nowakowska, had been removed earlier.

Reactions

Ziobro issued a statement branding the decision a “political decision dressed up as a ruling.” He alleged the outcome was pre‑determined, criticising the panel for refusing to exclude a judge who had previously handled a related case and highlighting that one member’s delegation was recently extended by current Justice Minister Waldemar Żurek, who is himself an auxiliary prosecutor in the Justice Fund case.

“The decision to maintain the pre‑trial detention was taken before the session even began. Today’s proceedings were purely a façade and provided concrete examples of abuses and double standards.”

PO MP Roman Giertych welcomed the ruling on social media, writing: “Zbigniew Ziobro has been legally arrested. The ruling is final. Now it’s time for the European Arrest Warrant and a request to deport the suspect to Poland. We are all waiting for him!”