Hungary grants asylum to former Polish minister amid abuse of power investigation

A former Polish minister who is under investigation for alleged abuse of power during his time in the conservative-nationalist Law and Justice (PiS) government has been granted political asylum in Hungary.Zbigniew Ziobro, the former justice minister, was one of the most prominent faces of the PiS government and played a central role in its controversial judiciary reforms, which critics say undermined the rule of law and the independence of courts, leading to prolonged conflict with the EU.Since the PiS government was voted out of power in 2023, Poland has been ruled by a pro-European coalition government led by the former European Council president Donald Tusk, elected on the promise of a reckoning with alleged corruption and abuse of state resources during PiS’s eight-year rule.Ziobro is being investigated on 26 charges, with prosecutors looking into allegations that he ran a criminal group and abused his position through the misuse of resources from a fund designed to help victims of crime.According to Polish media, prosecutors allege that the funds were used for political patronage and to acquire the Pegasus spyware system, allegedly deployed against domestic political rivals.Ziobro denies the allegations.On Monday he said on social media that he was determined to “fight against political banditry and lawlessness”, claiming he was a victim of a “personal vendetta” from Tusk.“I have decided to remain abroad until genuine guarantees of the rule of law are restored in Poland,” he said, thanking Hungary’s prime minister, Viktor Orbán, for granting him asylum.At a press conference in Warsaw, Ziobro’s lawyer, Bartosz Lewandowski, claimed the former minister would not get a fair trial in Poland.Hungary’s foreign minister, Péter Szijjártó, said in Budapest that the Hungarian authorities had granted asylum to “several” individuals who were facing “political persecution” in Poland, Reuters reported. He declined to give names.Marcin Romanowski, who was Poland’s deputy justice minister underZiobro, claimed asylum in Hungary in late 2024 after he was identified as a suspect in a related case.The Polish government’s spokesperson, Adam Szłapka, said Ziobro’s asylum claim showed “the sheriff proved to be nothing but a coward”.In November, the Polish parliament waived Ziobro’s parliamentary immunity. Prosecutors have requested his temporary arrest and the motion is expected to be heard this week. In December, his passports were invalidated in an attempt to stop him leaving the country.