“We respect defense confidentiality. The case will be clarified,” the National Prosecutor's Office wrote on X in response to the allegations of attorney Jacek Dubois, one of Janusz Palikot's defenders. Attorney Dubois claims that the prosecutor's office in the Palikot case is violating attorney-client privilege.
One of the defenders Janusz Palikotattorney Jacek Dubois said that the prosecutor's office's seizure of Palikot's phone, which contained correspondence with his lawyer, was a “drastic violation of human rights.”
– The CBA officers, seeing who the correspondence is with, open it, prepare a report, hand it over to the prosecutor conducting the proceedings, who uses it as evidence in the case before the court. I haven't seen a bigger scandal, said Dubois.
He announced that on Monday, Palikot's defense lawyers will submit a report on suspicion of committing a crime by officers of the CBA and the National Prosecutor's Office regarding Article 266 of the Penal Code and Art. 231 of the Penal Code, i.e. betrayal of attorney-client privilege and abuse of powers.
Prosecutor's office: the case will be clarified
On Saturday evening, the National Prosecutor's Office published a short message on the X platform: “We respect defense confidentiality. The case will be clarified.”
Przemysław Rosati, president of the Polish Bar Council, announced on Saturday that he had received a notification from Jacek Dubois that – according to Palikot's defense lawyer – during the criminal proceedings against Palikot, “there was a breach of defense confidentiality”.
“When inspecting the media secured by the suspect during the criminal proceedings, the prosecutor gained access, got acquainted with, and then, during the criminal proceedings, at the meeting of the court examining the application for pre-trial detention, used information constituting correspondence between the defense lawyer and his client, which constitutes a defense secret,” we read.
“I have sent a letter to the Prosecutor General, Mr. Adam Bodnar, in which I am asking for an urgent explanation of the situation related to the breach of defense and attorney-client privilege,” Rosati said on the X platform.
The prosecutor's response to the defense lawyers' allegations
Earlier on Saturday, at a press conference, prosecutor Łukasz Kudyk commented on Dubois' allegations regarding the disclosure of attorney-client privilege. The prosecutor confirmed that the suspect's phone was examined as evidence. He added that “at the time these talks were held, Mr. Dubois was not Mr. Janusz Palikot's defense attorney, so they had no defense relationship.” – In our opinion, what is disclosed in the inspection report does not violate any regulations or attorney-client privilege – he said.
Attorney Dubois commented on these words later on Saturday. – In the Code of Criminal Procedure, the legislator repeatedly uses the concept of a “potential suspect”. This is a person who has not been charged, but is a potential suspect. This person enjoys full protection under Article 240 of the Penal Code, i.e. this person's contact with the defense attorney is completely confidential, the lawyer explained.
As he recalled, when the notification in this case was submitted against Janusz Palikot, proceedings against him had been ongoing for over a year. – So Mr. Janusz Palikot was potentially a suspect, so he had the same rights as a suspect in terms of the right to contact a lawyer – he argued.
Eight charges against Palikot
Janusz Palikot (agrees to the publication of the image and data), Przemysław B. and Zbigniew B. they were detained on Thursday by the CBA in Lublin and Biłgoraj. On the same day, they were taken to the department of the National Prosecutor's Office in Wrocław, where they were charged with fraud. Their interrogations began on Thursday evening and ended on Friday late afternoon.
Palikot was charged with eight charges, including seven of fraud and one of misappropriating property. His colleagues Przemysław B. and Zbigniew B. were also charged with fraud. The prosecutor's office applied preventive measures against them.
Main photo source: TVN24