A Warsaw court has ordered the detention of Poland’s hardline former justice minister Zbigniew Ziobro, who is facing corruption charges and says he has been granted “asylum” in Hungary.
Ziobro was the leader of the ultra-conservative Sovereign Poland party, a junior coalition partner of the nationalist Law and Justice (PiS) party, and served as Minister of Justice and Attorney General between 2015 and 2023.
He faces up to 25 years in prison on charges including abuse of power, leading an organised criminal enterprise and using funds meant for crime victims to buy Israeli Pegasus spyware, allegedly to monitor political opponents.
Ziobro is also known as the architect of controversial judicial reforms which sparked a standoff between Poland and the European Commission.
He rejects the charges against him and has accused the centrist Polish government of a witch hunt against conservatives.
“The court has decided to place Minister Ziobro in pre-trial detention,” announced Adam Gomola, the former minister’s lawyer, late Thursday.
He indicated on X that he would appeal the decision.
The court’s ruling paves the way for a possible European arrest warrant against Ziobro.
In November 2025, Polish MPs voted to lift Ziobro’s parliamentary immunity and authorize his pre-trial detention.
Ziobro repeatedly refused to respond to summonses from the Polish judiciary, claiming that the charges levied against him were the result of “political” prosecution.
Earlier this year he said he had received “asylum” in Hungary, whose conservative Prime Minister Viktor Orban is a close ally.
There is no mechanism for nationals of EU countries to seek asylum in other EU countries.
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