Polish court postpones arrest hearing for former Justice Minister Zbigniew Ziobry until February 5 after defense challenges evidence access.
Former Justice Minister Arrest Request
Prosecutors have requested the arrest of former Justice Minister Zbigniew Ziobry. In December 2025, prosecutors obtained approval from the Sejm for the arrest. Investigators are accusing the former minister of 26 offenses, including leading an organized group that allegedly embezzled money from the Justice Fund.
Court Hearing Delays
On January 15 at 10:00 AM, the postponed December 22 hearing of the Regional Court for Warsaw-Mokotov began, during which the Prosecutor General’s Office’s request to arrest Zbigniew Ziobry was considered. Around 10:20 AM, a recess was called to resolve “formal issues,” according to Bartosz Lewandowski, the politician’s defender.
Media reports suggested the recess might have been caused by a formal request filed by the politician’s defense, which could have concerned materials not provided by the prosecution. Two more breaks occurred after 12:20 PM. Before 15:00 PM, it was announced that the court had postponed the hearing until February 5.
After the hearing, Zbigniew Ziobry’s lawyers commented on what happened in the courtroom. “There were several requests because we applied to postpone the hearing as there was no evidence that our client had been notified of the hearing date. We also filed requests regarding the prosecution’s rejection of our requests to access the case file. Both public and confidential,” said Zbigniew Ziobry’s lawyer.
“These requests were rejected by the prosecutor, we filed appeals against these procedural decisions and argued that until our appeals are considered by the competent appellate court, it is impossible to proceed in this case,” said attorney Adam Gomoła after the hearing. He added that “all three defenders filed requests to exclude the presiding judge from participating in this proceeding.”
Document Dispute
Before the hearing, attorney Bartosz Lewandowski told Onet that the prosecutor had denied Ziobry’s defenders access to some documents, “even though there are clearly beneficial evidence there.” “Mr. Gomoła, as a defender of another person where this thread is in court proceedings, had access to these materials and has knowledge of this matter. We have a situation where the prosecutor demands temporary detention, presenting only material selected by himself. This is a violation of the right to defense,” said Lewandowski.
In a media interview at the Warsaw court, prosecutor Piotr Woźniak stated that “Mr. Gomoła is in an awkward situation,” because “he represents two different clients in two different cases.” “In one case, it is the accused Michał W. – there he familiarized himself with non-public materials. In this proceeding, he represents Mr. Zbigniew Z., where he has not familiarized himself with these non-public materials. According to the regulations, he cannot use the knowledge he obtained in another proceeding in this proceeding. That is why he filed a request to access non-public materials, so to speak, again. The prosecutor is obliged to present to the defenders the materials that were listed in the request for the application of temporary detention – non-public materials were not listed in this request. Therefore, he could not obtain these materials again in another case,” explained prosecutor Piotr Woźniak.
