Poland's prosecutor general asks European Parliament to lift immunity of PiS MEP Patryk Jaki over prison service promotion
Prosecutor General Waldemar Żurek has asked the European Parliament to waive the immunity of PiS MEP Patryk Jaki, seeking his arrest over an allegedly unlawful promotion he ordered as deputy justice minister.
The request
On 2 June 2026, Poland's Prosecutor General and Minister of Justice Waldemar Żurek submitted a request to European Parliament President Roberta Metsola to lift the immunity of Law and Justice (PiS) MEP Patryk Jaki. The request also seeks consent for Jaki's detention and compulsory escort. The move was announced by National Prosecutor's Office spokesperson Anna Adamiak.
The investigation by the Investigative Team at the Regional Prosecutor's Office in Poznań has gathered evidence sufficiently justifying the suspicion that MEP Patryk Jaki committed the offence of exceeding his powers and failing to fulfil his duties.
The allegations
The case concerns Jaki's tenure as Secretary of State in the Ministry of Justice, where he oversaw the Prison Service. Prosecutors allege he issued an instruction to the Director General of the Prison Service that led to a series of personnel decisions regarding one officer. These decisions included delegation, transfer, secondment and appointment to the post of Deputy Director of the IT and Communications Bureau of the Central Board of the Prison Service, a position allegedly recreated for that officer.
According to the prosecutor's office, the decisions were taken without meeting statutory conditions and while disciplinary proceedings were ongoing against the officer. The result was an unauthorised promotion and a higher salary for the officer. The National Prosecutor's Office stated the actions undermined the lawful, objective functioning of the Prison Service's personnel policy and harmed the public interest.
The promotion decisions concerning this officer were taken while disciplinary proceedings were being conducted against him, thereby acting to the detriment of the public interest and for the purpose of obtaining financial and personal benefit.
The political reaction
The request triggered sharp responses from PiS politicians, who accused Żurek of using prosecutorial powers to persecute the opposition. MEP Maciej Wąsik called it a brutal political game that would end badly for Prime Minister Donald Tusk and Żurek. MP Marek Wesoły said the prosecutor's office is not Żurek's private estate. MP Dariusz Matecki warned that there would not be enough handcuffs in 2027 for all the decisions made by the current prosecution leadership.
This is making a mockery of the state. The charge is that I allegedly exceeded my powers by promoting someone to deputy director of some bureau, which is standard practice under every government, and I quote: it was not, in their view, justified by important service needs. Full stop. Are they normal? And for this they want to make a circus across Europe with an arrest.
Legal context
The National Prosecutor's Office emphasised that the act covered by the request is not related to Jaki's exercise of his European Parliament mandate and does not constitute opinions expressed or votes cast in parliamentary activity. The office stated that lifting immunity is a necessary condition for presenting charges and conducting further proceedings. The request for consent to detention was filed out of procedural caution, in case Jaki takes actions hindering the announcement of charges and his questioning as a suspect.
Lawyer Bartosz Lewandowski commented that the move is a well-set ball for the opposition in the European Parliament to show how things function in Poland. Former National Council of the Judiciary chair Dagmara Pawełczyk-Woicka assessed that no court would agree to detention on such a charge, but the spectacle of an arrest could still happen.
Broader investigation
The charges against Jaki are part of the work of an investigative team at the Regional Prosecutor's Office in Poznań examining irregularities in the functioning of the Prison Service between 2015 and 2023 and the Ministry of Justice's oversight of the service. The team is currently conducting 15 proceedings, initiated following numerous notifications of possible offences submitted by the Director of the Prison Service.
