Hearing Behind Closed Doors Over Immunity of Polish Prosecutor Wrzosek

A closed-door hearing opened on Thursday at the Supreme Court to consider the immunity of prosecutor Ewa Wrzosek, who is suspected by investigators of sharing information from the investigation with unauthorized individuals. The next session is scheduled for May 18.

Hearing in Wrzosek case adjourned

The case is being handled by a single judge from the Supreme Court’s Professional Liability Chamber. At the Szczecin Prosecutor’s Office request, Judge Zbigniew Korzeniowski ordered the session to be held away from public view. Journalists and the general public are not permitted to watch the proceedings.

The public prosecutor attended the Supreme Court hearing on Thursday along with three defense attorneys. After a hearing lasting less than two hours, the matter was adjourned.

The next date is set for May 18 at 9 a.m.,

the prosecutor stated as she exited the courtroom.

“Today I learned that part of the request to waive my immunity is classified. I did not have access to that portion, so we will file a formal application with the court to review these materials,”

Wrzosek said. She added that the public prosecutor’s office opposes and does not consent to providing the secret portion of the application to her.

“Evidence seems to have been manipulated.”

Even before Thursday’s session began, Wrzosek asserted that the prosecutor’s office had improperly obtained the evidence in the case with the help of the Pegasus program.

The prosecutor contended that the evidence appears to have been altered and expressed hope of proving this in court. She noted that the immunity waiver request contains numerous formal, substantive, and legal errors. She also said she had not received all the materials accompanying the Szczecin Prosecutor’s Office submission, though the materials she did access did not corroborate the public statements made by the prosecutor’s office in a press release.

“I will not be intimidated,” she declared. “Even if I face handcuffs, I will not back down.”

Earlier, the regional prosecutor’s office in Szczecin referred the immunity matter to the Supreme Court. Simultaneously, the office filed a request to hold another Warsaw prosecutor, Małgorzata M., accountable for political activities. Both prosecutors were suspended for six months; Małgorzata M. was also dismissed from her post as Deputy Prosecutor for Warsaw-Żoliborz.

Officials say the actions surrounding these allegations relate to the 2020 presidential campaign and two bus incidents in Warsaw. One crash occurred on the Cave-Roweckiego bridge, resulting in a death. The bus driver faced charges of driving under the influence. It is claimed that Michał D., who leads the Security and Crisis Management Office for the City of Warsaw, used his acquaintance with Prosecutor Wrzosek to expect that investigators would share details of the accident findings.

Following the events, fragments of electronic correspondence between prosecutors and officials were released by the Szczecin prosecutor’s office. The office contends that Wrzosek, who does not have direct access to the case, obtained information about the proceedings from her colleague, prosecutor M., and passed it along to Michał D.

“I will not be cowed, even if handcuffs come into play.”

Wrzosek rejected the statements published by the Szczecin prosecutor’s office. She argued that this is no longer just harassment but an attempt to sway public opinion and silence her critique of Zbigniew Ziobro’s prosecutor’s office. “I will not be intimidated, even if I am handcuffed,” she emphasized.

She also revealed that her phone had been monitored using the Pegasus system, which can alter information stored on electronic devices.

In late September of the previous year, Wrzosek reported that the Warsaw District Court had ordered the public prosecutor’s office to examine the suspicion of tapping her phone. Earlier, the Warsaw District Prosecutor’s Office refused to initiate proceedings in this matter. The case was brought by Wrzosek, who alerted the prosecutor’s office about a possible cyberattack on her phone believed to be connected to the Pegasus system.