A formal extradition request has been submitted to the United States for former Polish Justice Minister Zbigniew Ziobro, who faces 26 criminal charges related to the Justice Fund investigation. <\/p>\n
An extradition request for former Justice Minister and Prosecutor General Zbigniew Ziobro from the United States has been submitted, according to information unofficially obtained by the Polish Press Agency (PAP) from sources close to the investigation. The politician is a suspect in the investigation concerning the Justice Fund and has been residing in the USA since May of this year.<\/p>\n
Previously, the former minister spent several months in Hungary, where he obtained international protection during the administration of then-Prime Minister Viktor Orban. At the beginning of July this year, Hungary revoked Ziobro’s refugee status and invalidated his travel documents. Documents belonging to the former minister’s wife, Patrycja Kotecka-Ziobro, and Marcin Romanowski, a former deputy minister also suspected in the investigation, were similarly revoked and invalidated.<\/p>\n
Prior to these revocations, on May 10 following Orban’s electoral defeat, Ziobro announced that he was in the USA. He stated that he had not fled Poland and was using a document granted to him alongside the right to asylum received in Hungary. Even then, current Justice Minister and Prosecutor General Waldemar \u017burek announced plans to seek his extradition.<\/p>\n
Ziobro faces formal charges in the investigation regarding irregularities within the Justice Fund. A district court approved a motion for the former minister’s arrest in February of this year, a decision that became final in July, and an arrest warrant has also been issued for him.<\/p>\n
PAP learned unofficially about the submission of the extradition request from sources close to the inquiry. In mid-July, \u017burek stated that the request spanned nearly 300 pages and was awaiting translation into English.<\/p>\n
Under the extradition treaty between Poland and the United States, requests for the surrender of a prosecuted person, along with supporting documents, are transmitted through diplomatic channels. The treaty stipulates that an extraditable offense is one punishable under the laws of both countries by deprivation of liberty for a maximum period exceeding one year or by a more severe penalty.<\/p>\n
Additionally, on July 14, the Minister of Justice informed the American side that Ziobro faces 26 criminal charges. \u017burek wrote on X that Polish authorities invalidated his standard and diplomatic passports, while Hungary revoked his refugee status granted by Orban’s government, alongside the invalidation of his Geneva passport, attaching photos of the letter sent to the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).<\/p>\n
Earlier, in February of this year, prosecutors requested a European Arrest Warrant (EAW) for Ziobro, but the Warsaw District Court refused to issue it on July 13. The court justified its refusal by stating the prosecuting authority failed to demonstrate that Ziobro was present in or would travel to the territory of the EU.<\/p>\n
The case concerning the former justice minister is a key thread in the investigation into the operation of the Justice Fund during the rule of Law and Justice (PiS). Prosecutors accuse Ziobro of leading an organized criminal group and abusing his official position for criminal activities.<\/p>\n
According to the prosecution, Ziobro committed a total of 26 offenses, including issuing unlawful orders to subordinates to secure grants from the Justice Fund for favored entities, interfering with the preparation of tender offers, and permitting the allocation of funds to ineligible entities.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
A formal extradition request has been submitted to the United States for former Polish Justice Minister Zbigniew Ziobro, who faces 26 criminal charges related to the Justice Fund investigation. Extradition Request Filed From the United States An extradition request for former Justice Minister and Prosecutor General Zbigniew Ziobro from the United States has been submitted, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"wpai_generated_summary":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[43],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-16755","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-politics-and-law"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/bizonews.com\/pl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16755","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/bizonews.com\/pl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/bizonews.com\/pl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bizonews.com\/pl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bizonews.com\/pl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=16755"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/bizonews.com\/pl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16755\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/bizonews.com\/pl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=16755"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bizonews.com\/pl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=16755"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bizonews.com\/pl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=16755"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}