For Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban, “the basis for the decision to grant asylum to Marcin Romanowski was only a four-page brochure,” reported the Hungarian investigative portal VSquare. Journalists reported that they had found her. It is anonymous, and many of the quotes contained in it come from the platform run by Ordo Iuris.
Former Deputy Minister of Justice and currently PiS MP Marcin Romanowski is a suspect in the investigation into the Justice Fund. On December 9 last year, the District Court for Warsaw-Mokotów decided on a three-month detention for Romanowski. The MP did not appear at the court hearing, and the prosecutor in charge of the investigation issued an arrest warrant for him.
On December 19, Marcin Romanowski received political asylum Hungary. Earlier in the day, the District Court in Warsaw announced the issuance of a European Arrest Warrant against this politician. Granting Romanowski asylum caused tension in Polish-Hungarian relations.
Romanowski declared in December that he treated “his mission on the Danube” as a fight against lawlessness.
VSquare: Orban referred to a study by an ultra-conservative Hungarian think tank
On Saturday, Hungarian investigative journalist Szabolcs Panyi wrote on the VSquare website that “the Hungarian government has not yet publicly provided a justification for the decision that calls into question the legality of the Polish judicial system.” It was recalled that the Prime Minister Viktor Orbán he only admitted at a recent conference that it was based on a “comprehensive study” of the rule of law in Poland.
Journalists checked what “research” Orban was talking about. For this purpose – as described – they submitted a request for public information to several Hungarian ministries. “Finally, the prime minister's office informed us that Orban referred to a study published by the ultra-conservative Hungarian think tank Center for Fundamental Rights,” it said.
Marcin RomanowskiJakub Orzechowski/agencja wyborcza.pl
A four-page brochure on the state of the rule of law in Poland
The website further states that the “study” – titled “The rule of law in Poland is under threat: 10 most egregious moves of Donald Tusk's liberal government” – turned out to be an anonymous, four-and-a-half-page brochure, and “many of the quotes it refers to come from the Rule of Law Observer, online platform run by the influential ultra-Catholic Ordo Iuris Institute.
Journalists pointed out that in 2021 they revealed that both organizations (Center for Fundamental Rights and Institute Ordo Iuris) have been cooperating for a long time. They mentioned, for example, that they both campaigned against the ratification of the Istanbul Convention – a document that aims to combat violence against women and domestic violence. In 2020, Romanowski himself claimed that the convention “turns our world of values ​​upside down” and is a “left-wing, gender Trojan horse.”
READ MORE IN KONKRET24: Religion 'a cause of violence against women'? What does the Istanbul Convention say?
Siemoniak: Romanowski became addicted to the media. Tomorrow he will eat goulash and broadcast itTVN24
The trail leads to Sébastien Meuwissen
According to the findings of VSquare journalists, the Hungarian Center for Fundamental Rights has one Polish expert, Sébastien Meuwissen. It was reported that he was a “Belgian-Polish citizen who previously worked for several PiS politicians, including former Prime Minister (Mateusz) Morawiecki” and was “director of communications at the Ordo Iuris Institute and for many years published articles in Visegrád Post, a far-right part of the Voice of Europe network – a Russian intelligence operation supporting the far right.
Journalists approached Meuwissen, wanting to find out whether he was connected with a study on the state of the rule of law in Poland. However, by the time the text was published, they had not received a response. They also recalled that Meuwissen appeared on TVP in 2019 (when he headed the television Jacek Kurski – ed.), criticizing Donald Tusk and introducing himself as a “journalist from Belgium”, while also completing an internship at TVP.
Charged with committing 11 crimes
The National Prosecutor's Office's investigation into the Justice Fund has been ongoing since February 2024. This is a proceeding covering several issues, including abuse of powers and failure to fulfill duties by the Minister of Justice and ministry officials who were responsible for money from the fund.
In the case of Romanowski, who in the years 2019-2023 was the deputy head of the Ministry of Justice supervising the Justice Fund, the prosecutor's office accuses him of committing 11 crimes, including participation in an organized criminal group and fixing competitions for money from this fund.
These crimes were to include, among other things, “indicating entities subordinated to employees that should win competitions for subsidies from the Justice Fund.”
The politician also allegedly ordered corrections of erroneous offers before submitting them and allowed grants to be awarded to entities that did not meet formal and material requirements. The charges also concern “the misappropriation of property entrusted to the suspect in the form of money in the total amount of over PLN 107 million and attempted misappropriation of money in the amount of over PLN 58 million.”
vsquare.org, tvn24.pl, PAP
Main photo source: Jakub Orzechowski/agencja wyborcza.pl