Polish ex-minister granted asylum in Hungary, Warsaw denounces move as blow to justice

Zbigniew Ziobro, former Polish justice minister and prominent Law and Justice (PiS) politician, has been granted political asylum and international protection in Hungary, his attorney confirmed, in a development likely to intensify diplomatic tensions between Warsaw and Budapest.

Ziobro faces 26 criminal charges in Poland related to his tenure in the previous PiS-led government, which ruled from 2015 to 2023, Caliber.Az reports, citing foreign media.

Prosecutors allege he established and led an “organized criminal group” that misappropriated approximately 150 million zlotys (€35.4 million) from the Justice Fund, a state program designed to aid victims of crime. According to investigators, the funds were allegedly diverted to projects connected to his political allies and used to purchase the controversial Israeli Pegasus spyware, which was later deployed to monitor political rivals of PiS.

In November 2024, the Polish parliament voted to strip Ziobro of his parliamentary immunity, enabling prosecutors to formally charge him and pursue detention.

His lawyer, Bartosz Lewandowski, told reporters that Ziobro had been granted both international protection and political asylum by the Hungarian authorities. Writing on X, Lewandowski said Hungary’s decision was based on actions by Polish prosecutors and security services that he characterized as “politically motivated repression.”

❗️ Poseł @ZiobroPL uzyskał ochronę międzynarodową i azyl polityczny na Węgrzech w związku z naruszeniami praw i wolności na terytorium Polski gwarantowanych prawem międzynarodowym.

Azyl polityczny został mu przyznany przez rząd węgierski na mocy ustawy o prawie do azylu z 2007… pic.twitter.com/NKzPD9cFds

— Bartosz Lewandowski (@BartoszLewand20) January 12, 2026

Ziobro himself expressed gratitude to Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán for the protection.

“I have decided to remain abroad until genuine guarantees of the rule of law are restored in Poland,” he wrote on X.

W drugą rocznicę kryminalnego przejęcia Prokuratury Krajowej przez grupę przestępczą Tuska oświadczam:

Wybieram walkę z politycznym bandytyzmem i bezprawiem. Stawiam opór postępującej dyktaturze. Czynię to w imię zasad, którymi zawsze się kierowałem i z powodu których stałem się…

— Zbigniew Ziobro | SP (@ZiobroPL) January 12, 2026

“I am being targeted in a manhunt and smear campaign. I went abroad to oppose political banditry and lawlessness, and a creeping dictatorship under Prime Minister Donald Tusk’s government.”

Ziobro also confirmed that he has applied for international protection for his wife.

Since assuming power in late 2023, Tusk’s centrist, pro-EU coalition has launched multiple investigations into alleged abuses by the PiS administration, including a parliamentary inquiry into the acquisition and use of Pegasus spyware. Tusk has asserted that the previous PiS government used Pegasus to monitor as many as 578 individuals. While PiS politicians describe the probes as politically motivated, Tusk’s government maintains that the investigations are necessary to restore the rule of law and hold former officials accountable.

Ziobro left Poland for Hungary in October 2024, shortly before the parliamentary motion to lift his immunity was formally presented. He has remained in Hungary for several months, raising speculation that he could follow the path of his former deputy, Marcin Romanowski—also implicated in the Justice Fund case—who was granted asylum by Hungary in December 2024 after claiming political persecution, an allegation rejected by Tusk’s government.

The asylum decision has further strained diplomatic relations between Warsaw and Budapest. Orbán, whose Fidesz party shares political alignment with PiS, met Ziobro in Budapest in October and accused Tusk’s administration of launching a “political witch hunt” against Ziobro and other PiS officials. The two governments have frequently clashed on a range of political and EU-related issues.

Meanwhile, Poland’s Deputy Defence Minister, Cezary Tomczyk, has strongly denounced former justice minister Zbigniew Ziobro’s decision to seek political asylum in Hungary, describing the move as a severe blow to the country’s judicial system, Polsat News reports.

Tomczyk stated that Ziobro’s actions “extremely demoralize the entire judicial system.”

“A former justice minister who avoids accountability for his actions by fleeing to a country ruled by Viktor Orbán, a friend of Vladimir Putin—that says it all. I think even PiS voters understand this,” he said.

The deputy minister further suggested that there may be a third individual, in addition to Ziobro and former deputy Marcin Romanowski, who has also obtained asylum in Hungary, though he declined to disclose their identity. He reiterated that both Ziobro and Romanowski had previously asserted that “no one will escape justice.”

By Vafa Guliyeva