Another try
The next session of the parliamentary committee of enquiry is due today. According to information from the authoritative website of the Polish Sejm, the proceeding will begin at 10:00 and will be conducted in open mode.
Zbigniew Ziobra, who served as Minister of Justice in 2015-2023 and lawyer General in office from 2016 to 2023, was called back to the committee on Monday. He will give evidence on proceedings concerning the assessment of the legality, regularity and usefulness of operational activities, including the usage of Pegasus, by members of the Council of Ministers, peculiar services, police, taxation and customs and taxation authorities, law enforcement authorities and prosecutors from 16 November 2015 to 20 November 2023, as stated on the website of the Polish Sejm.
Zbigniew Ziobro had already been called up for questioning before the committee of inquiry, but twice justified his absence by presenting a medical certificate related to cancer.
Did the committee break the law?
On Thursday evening, Zbigniew Ziobro published a photograph of the call for questioning on the X portal. He commented:
This card would even be funny, and its authors would be rather witty, if not for the fact that, in accordance with the Constitutional Court's ruling, the Members of this “or the Commission” have committed a crime, among others, with Article 231 of the Criminal Code. On 10 September, the Constitutional Tribunal stated that the scope of the parliamentary committee on Pegasus was incompatible with the Constitution and removed it from the legal order. Members impersonating a non-existent committee will be liable for this – it is simply a substance of time. I'll send each of them a copy of the T.K.'s conviction so they can't defend themselves from the court that they didn't know.
Photo of the letter that Zbigniew Ziobro received / photograph XIt is worth recalling that on 10 September 2024, the Constitutional Court found that the scope of the Pegasus Committee of enquiry was contrary to the Constitution. justice Zbigniew Jędrzejewski announced that Article 2 of the Resolution of the Sejm of 17 January 2024 concerning the appointment of this committee was not in accordance with Article 2 of the Constitution of the Republic of Poland.
I don't think he'll show up.
According to media reports, there is simply a truly low probability that this time Zbigniew Ziobro decides to honor the committee with his presence. This is indirectly suggested besides by the previously quoted content of his message on the X portal. Of course, many politicians point to the work to appear. He writes about it in his social media, for example MP Tomasz Trela:
The work of Polish citizens is to appear before the Pegasus committee. He who refuses to come voluntarily will be detained and brought (after the decision of the court). It does not substance if his name is Zbigniew, Jarosław, Matthew, Beata, Mariusz or Maciej. There is no equal or equal!
Patryk Jaskulski, who is besides a associate of the committee, believes that the Ziobra entry can be utilized against him in the event of his absence. As he says:
Now Ziobro has received a call to the committee and has made it public, so we have information and confirmation that he is being informed of the call. We'll be waiting for him. His failure to show will have consequences that the erstwhile minister will not escape.
What consequences does Jaskulski mention? Well, if Ziobro does not attend the proceeding today, the committee will plan another deadline in December. This is to be the final deadline, and in the event of the erstwhile Minister of Justice being ignored again, the committee will decide to apply coercive measures.
Jaskulski, in an interview with “Fakt”, notes:
It's likely it's only after the 3rd failure by the witness that we want to usage the means of coercion. In the meantime, however, we will besides gotta apply to the national prosecutor to apply to the Sejm for the removal of immunity from the erstwhile Minister of Justice.
