Hungary has granted political asylum to Zbigniew Ziobro, Poland’s former Minister of Justice, who faces charges of embezzlement and theft of public funds.
Ziobro is being prosecuted on 26 charges related to the theft of funds from a foundation designed to support crime victims and train criminals for rehabilitation. Investigators accuse him of approving the purchase of spyware valued at approximately 25 million Polish Zlotys ($7 million USD), which was allegedly used to hack the mobile phones of his political opponents. Ziobro maintains that he is a victim of political persecution.
Granting asylum to a citizen of another EU member state is considered contrary to the spirit of European Union standards. However, in Hungary’s case, this is neither a first nor a new development.
Ziobro is the second politician from the former Law and Justice (PiS) government to be granted such immunity; last year, his former deputy, Michał Romanowski, fled to Budapest seeking similar protection. Both politicians are accused of corruption and abuse of power—primarily by using funds from the state’s Justice Fund, which they oversaw, to finance their party and closely linked circles.
Ziobro served as Minister of Justice between 2015 and 2023 in a national-conservative government allied with Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán. If convicted, he could face up to 25 years in prison.
In a post on “X,” Ziobro stated: “I have decided to accept the political asylum granted to me by the Hungarian government due to the political persecution taking place in my country, Poland.” He added, “I have chosen to oppose political thuggery and the misapplication of the law. I stand against a creeping dictatorship,” noting that Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk has launched a “personal assassination” against him.
Ziobro is accused of ordering the purchase of the Israeli spyware “Pegasus” for 25 million Zlotys. The current Polish government and a European Council investigative team have confirmed that this software was used secretly to hack the phones of political officials. Current Foreign Minister Radosław Sikorski confirmed his mobile phone was hacked, and Tusk noted that the phones of his wife and daughter were also targeted. Ziobro also faces accusations regarding financial grants provided to firefighting and women’s organizations without proper competition to bolster the government’s popularity.
As Minister of Justice between 2015 and 2023, Ziobro was the architect of judicial reforms that sparked a major dispute with Brussels. This case led to the freezing of EU funding for Poland, as well as rulings by the European Court of Justice, which held that those reforms represented a breach of basic EU rules and treaties, including the principle of judicial independence. Orbán, who has faced similar criticisms, and members of the Law and Justice government rejected these rulings, claiming they represented an assault on national sovereignty and a lack of respect for the limits of Brussels’ authority.
Thus, in Orbán’s view, Ziobro is considered not just a representative of an allied party, but essentially a comrade-in-arms in defending national sovereignty against what is perceived as EU persecution. Orbán wants to project himself as a leader of the “Patriotic” movement in Europe, and Ziobro’s request for political asylum has become a convenient means to achieve this goal.
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