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Notes from Poland is run by a small editorial team and is published by an independent, non-profit foundation that is funded through donations from our readers. We cannot do what we do without your support.
Poland has formally asked the United States to detain and extradite former justice minister Zbigniew Ziobro, who is wanted on multiple criminal charges.
Ziobro, a senior figure in the former national-conservative Law and Justice (PiS) government, is accused of offences including leading an organised criminal group and abuse of office.
Having previously fled Poland to Hungary, where Viktor Orbán’s government, an ally of PiS, granted him asylum, Ziobro arrived in the United States in May following a change of government in Budapest.
Wniosek o ekstradycję podejrzanego Zbigniewa Ziobro: ⬇️https://t.co/YC7T3RrIEc
— Prokuratura (@PK_GOV_PL) July 27, 2026
Ziobro served as justice minister in the PiS government from 2015 to 2023. Last year, prosecutors announced that they wanted to charge him with 26 crimes, including leading a criminal group and approving the unlawful purchase of Pegasus spyware.
In October, parliament approved the lifting of Ziobro’s immunity from prosecution. By then, however, he had already travelled to Hungary, and in December he was granted political asylum by the Hungarian government.
In February this year, Warsaw’s district court approved a request from prosecutors to place Ziobro in pretrial detention. That decision was needed in order for the authorities to issue domestic and European arrest warrants against the suspect.
However, Ziobro’s lawyers appealed against the decision. While that appeal was waiting to be heard, Orbán lost power in Hungary and, as his successor Péter Magyar was being sworn in, Ziobro left the country and flew to the United States.
In July, a Warsaw court rejected Ziobro’s appeal, opening the way for Poland to seek the politician’s extradition from the US. Ziobro has no valid travel documents after Poland cancelled his passports and Budapest revoked his refugee status.
The extradition request covers 19 of the 26 offences listed in the indictment, the prosecutors said. The documents submitted include the final order for Ziobro’s detention, the indictment, a wanted notice and evidence supporting the case.
The request will now be sent through diplomatic channels to the US Department of Justice, where it will be assessed to determine whether it meets the formal requirements of the Polish-US extradition treaty, prosecutor Anna Adamiak said.
If the request satisfies those requirements, it will be referred to a US federal court, where a judge will decide on the legal admissibility of Ziobro’s extradition to Poland.
A court has upheld a request by prosecutors to bring former justice minister Zbigniew Ziobro, who is wanted on 26 criminal charges, into detention.
The decision paves the way for Poland to request Ziobro’s extradition from the US, where he fled in May https://t.co/vIPRjvgQnA
— Notes from Poland 🇵🇱 (@notesfrompoland) July 2, 2026
Asked how long the extradition process could take, Adamiak said previous cases suggested proceedings could last anywhere from a few months to several years, depending on their nature and complexity.
Adamiak noted, however, that the extradition proceedings would not determine Ziobro’s guilt. “Its role is merely to assess whether the surrender of that person in extradition proceedings is legally permissible in light of treaty regulations and domestic law,” she told reporters, quoted by online news service Wirtualna Polska.
“However, the decision on surrender is, of course, a decision made by the state, so other circumstances may also play a role,” she added.
PiS, Poland’s largest opposition party, enjoys close ties with US President Donald Trump’s administration.
Poland’s conservative opposition enthusiastically welcomed Trump’s return to the White House, but it is becoming increasingly difficult for them to maintain a tough anti-Russian line while also showing allegiance to the US president, writes @danieltilles1 https://t.co/4PW6H9nMEF
— Notes from Poland 🇵🇱 (@notesfrompoland) March 7, 2025
Asked at a news conference about the likelihood of Ziobro’s extradition and when it might take place, Poland’s Prime Minister Donald Tusk said the question should be directed at “the other Donald”, reported the Polish Press Agency (PAP).
“We will, in accordance with the law, seek all available means to ensure that these politicians, against whom such serious charges have been brought, appear before a Polish court sooner or later,” he added. “We are waiting for positive signals from Washington. Will they come? I don’t know.”
Ziobro has long denied all accusations, saying the case against him is an act of “political revenge” by Tusk’s government.
Commenting on the extradition request on the conservative television channel Republika, Ziobro said he was pleased that the case would be heard “in the United States, on American soil, and before an American court”.
He claimed that the proceedings would show that the Polish government “regularly breaks the law, ignores procedures, rejects democratic principles, has taken control of the prosecutor’s office unlawfully, and is trying to destroy the opposition”.
Ziobro: ludzie Tuska popełniali ordynarne przestępstwa i teraz mszczą się na mnie za ich wykrycie#włączprawdę #TVRepublika https://t.co/sQkq6ikEEL
— Telewizja Republika 🇵🇱 #włączprawdę (@RepublikaTV) July 27, 2026
Notes from Poland is run by a small editorial team and published by an independent, non-profit foundation that is funded through donations from our readers. We cannot do what we do without your support.
Main image credit: Ministerstwo Sprawiedliwości (under CC BY-SA 4.0)
Alicja Ptak is deputy editor-in-chief of Notes from Poland and a multimedia journalist. She has written for Clean Energy Wire and The Times, and she hosts her own podcast, The Warsaw Wire, on Poland’s economy and energy sector. She previously worked for Reuters.
