In a dramatic development that has triggered a cross-border legal probe and raised questions of potential diplomatic friction, former Polish Justice Minister Zbigniew Ziobro — a top figure in Poland’s nationalist conservative Law and Justice (PiS) government that ruled from 2015 to 2023 — has announced he traveled from Hungary, where he held asylum, to the United States. Polish prosecutors confirmed Monday they are now probing whether any third parties helped Ziobro evade the criminal charges he faces in his home country.
Ziobro, a central architect of the PiS administration’s controversial overhaul of Poland’s judiciary, has been wanted by Polish authorities since last year for allegations of abuse of power. Under his leadership, the PiS government installed ideologically aligned judges to secure political control over Poland’s highest courts, and targeted judicial critics with disciplinary punishments and unwanted geographic reassignments, moves that drew widespread international criticism over democratic backsliding.
In January, Ziobro confirmed he had been granted political asylum in Hungary, then led by long-time nationalist Prime Minister Viktor Orbán, a close ideological ally of the PiS movement. His unexpected move to the U.S. was made public on Sunday, in an interview with Polish right-wing media outlet Republika — timed on the exact same day that Orbán’s elected successor, Péter Magyar, was sworn into office in Budapest following an upset election victory last month that ended Orbán’s 16-year tenure. According to Polish state news agency PAP, Ziobro stated he used travel documentation issued to him as part of his asylum status in Hungary to enter the U.S.
The charges against Ziobro date back to October 2023, when Polish prosecutors requested that his parliamentary immunity be stripped to allow formal charges to proceed. Prosecutors accuse Ziobro of misappropriating funds from a public state fund established for victims of violence, including diverting money to purchase Israeli Pegasus spyware. Tusk’s governing Civic Coalition has repeatedly accused the former PiS administration of using Pegasus to conduct illegal surveillance on political opponents ahead of the 2020 parliamentary election. Ziobro has consistently denied all wrongdoing, maintaining every action he took was fully legal under Polish law.
Poland’s new pro-European Union government, led by Prime Minister Donald Tusk, took office in late 2023 on a pledge to roll back the judicial overhaul implemented by the PiS and restore the rule of law. To date, however, those efforts have been blocked by two consecutive Polish presidents affiliated with the nationalist right, leaving the reform process deadlocked.
On Monday, Poland’s national prosecutor’s office announced via social media that it has opened a new investigation into Ziobro’s sudden departure, focused on identifying any individuals who may have aided his flight and helped him avoid standing trial on existing charges, which would constitute obstruction of the ongoing inquiry into the management of the national justice fund.
Current Polish Justice Minister Waldemar Żurek confirmed via a post on X Sunday evening that Polish authorities had already invalidated all of Ziobro’s Polish-issued travel documents, including his diplomatic passport, before his international travel. He added that Poland will formally request clarification from both the U.S. and Hungary on the legal basis that allowed Ziobro to exit Hungarian territory and enter the United States.
The cross-border movement has opened the door to potential political tension between Warsaw and Washington, but Polish officials have moved quickly to downplay that risk. “We don’t want this issue to become political,” Polish Foreign Ministry spokesperson Maciej Wewiór told the Associated Press in an interview. “Our relationship with the U.S. goes much deeper than what happens with Ziobro. But we do want our citizen to eventually return to Poland and face justice.”