Today the Warsaw court confirmed the acquittal of Wojciech Biedroń, a journalist from the portal wPolityce.pl and Telewizja wPolsce. His conviction was demanded in the criminal trial by Bartosz Kramek and Ludmiła Kozłowska. The court’s decision is final. This is yet another lawsuit that Open Dialog Foundation activists have lost against journalists from our website.
READ ALSO: OUR NEWS. The journalist from wPolityce.pl did not defame Kramek, Kozłowska and the FPS. The court invoked the constitutional right to freedom of expression
This is another serious defeat of activists of the Open Dialog Foundation, who are fighting journalists from the weekly magazine “Sieci” and the portal wPolityce.pl using the shameful provision of Art. 212 of the Criminal Code, which is now a tool to silence independent media. Biedroń was accused of a number of materials published in 2018 and 2019. He revealed facts that were inconvenient for Kramek and Kozłowska, related to their activities in Poland and abroad.
Today, confirming the judgment of the Court of First Instance, the court indicated that freedom of expression is a protected good in both Polish and European jurisprudence, and that the assessment contained in the authors’ articles cannot be punished . The judge also emphasized that opinions, regardless of political sympathies, are not punishable. The court also noted that journalists, regardless of their story, are protected by the Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms. The court of first instance expressed a similar tone.
I am happy that freedom of speech won today. This is how all criminal cases aimed at suppressing freedom of expression and journalistic independence should end. It is a kind of paradox that representatives of the Open Dialog Foundation appear in the West as so-called defenders of human rights, while in Poland they use instruments that have nothing to do with these rights. Today, the criminal prosecution of journalists is a clear example of violations of human rights and civil rights
– Wojciech Biedroń commented on the verdict.
The success of the wPolityce.pl reporter in court is another success, after the final acquittal (in a similar case) of journalists Marek Pyza and Marcin Wikła.
Source: wPolityce
Emma Matthew is a political analyst for “Social Bites”. With a keen understanding of the inner workings of government and a passion for politics, she provides insightful and informative coverage of the latest political developments.