Zbigniew Ziobro, investigative committee for Pegasus. Magdalena Sroka: was effectively notified about Monday's hearing

Ziobro's hearing by the parliamentary committee of inquiry into Pegasus is to take place on Monday, July 1. The head of the committee explained that the decision to summon the former head of the Ministry of Justice before the committee on that day results from the committee's conclusion of the thread concerning the purchase of the Pegasus system.

– From the Justice Fund, PLN 25 million went to CBA for surveillance of citizens, and should go to victims of crime, hence the decision that at the end of this thread he will be summoned Zbigniew Ziobro – said the chairwoman. Sroka said on Friday that the former head of the Ministry of Justice had been effectively notified of the interrogation by a police officer. Earlier, the chairwoman informed that the committee was trying to deliver the summons to Ziobro, but the politician was not receiving it. – Hence my decision to contact the police through the prosecutor's office to determine the whereabouts of the minister and to deliver the summons – she added.

The head of the committee also said that the committee had not received any justification for Ziobro's possible absence. – I understand the illness, I wish you a speedy recovery, but Minister Ziobro should know perfectly well how to effectively justify his absence from the hearing – she emphasized.

She explained that the investigative committee operates on the basis of the Penal Code, and the way to justify absence from a hearing is to send a medical certificate issued by a court expert to the committee. She added that Ziobro could do this until the last moment, i.e. until the beginning of Monday's meeting. At the same time, Sroka assured that if Monday's hearing would not take place due to health reasons, she would strive to set another convenient date that would be acceptable for the witness.

“The investigative committee knows well that after I was diagnosed with extensive cancer of the esophagus and stomach lymph nodes, I underwent a complicated operation and am continuing treatment. And for weeks, the Chancellery of the Sejm has been on my sick leave covering the period until July 7,” Ziobro wrote a few days ago on the X platform In his opinion, summoning him on July 1 and involving the police is a “primitive provocation and plain, disgusting harassment.”

The politician recalled that according to the law, the police can only be used for deliveries in situations of “absolute necessity”, and should use the postal service first. “I have long since publicly stated, and I maintain that, that I want to appear before the commission. I just need to regain my strength, and the commission should respect the applicable law in its actions,” Ziobro added.

ABOUT sick leave Ziobro was also previously informed by Sovereign Poland politician, MEP Jacek Ozdoba, at least until July 7.

Zbigniew Ziobro is the co-founder and president of Sovereign Poland (in 2012-2023 under the name Solidarity Poland). From 2005 to 2007, he served as Minister of Justice and Prosecutor General. He was reappointed as Minister of Justice in 2015, and Prosecutor General in 2016, and held these positions until 2023.

The politician disappeared from the public space after elections parliamentary elections on October 15 last year, handing over the leadership of Sovereign Poland to Patryk Jaki. As revealed in the media by politicians PIS, the reason for Ziobro's withdrawal from political life was a serious cancer disease. On March 12, Ziobro himself confirmed that he was struggling with “a fatal disease of malignant cancer of the esophagus with metastases to part of the stomach.”

The Pegasus commission of inquiry is to examine the legality, regularity and purposefulness of activities undertaken using Pegasus software by the government, secret services and police from November 2015 to November 2023. This period covers the period of Zbigniew Ziobro's term as head of the ministry. The commission is also to determine who was responsible for purchasing Pegasus and similar tools for the Polish authorities.

So far, the committee has heard, among others: Jaroslaw KaczynskiMichał Woś, former director of the Department of Family and Juvenile Affairs at the Ministry of Justice, Mikołaj Pawlak, and other employees of the Ministry of Justice.