The Reuters news agency reported this week, citing three people familiar with the matter, that US Deputy Secretary of State Christopher Landau instructed senior State Department officials to facilitate and approve a visa for Ziobro, enabling him to travel from Hungary to the United States.
"For several days now we have had official information that the suspect, Zbigniew Ziobro, left Europe on May 9 and flew from Milan to New York by plane," Przemysław Nowak, a spokesman for the National Public Prosecutor's Office, told reporters.
Zbigniew Ziobro. Photo: Art Service/PAP
Nowak said Ziobro travelled on a foreign media journalist visa.
After arriving in the United States, Ziobro announced that he would work as a correspondent for right-wing Polish broadcaster TV Republika.
Polish authorities are seeking to prosecute Ziobro, the architect of a judicial overhaul that the European Union said undermined the rule of law when the conservative Law and Justice (PiS) party was in power from 2015 to 2023.
Ziobro faces 26 charges linked mainly to the alleged misuse of money from a crime victims' fund for political gain.
He has denied wrongdoing, saying he is the target of a politically motivated campaign by Poland’s pro-European Union government.
Ziobro, a former justice minister and prosecutor-general, is now a PiS lawmaker. PiS governed Poland from 2015 to 2023 and is now in opposition.
Ziobro confirmed on May 10 that he was in the United States, after spending several months in Hungary, where he received international protection under the former government of Viktor Orbán.
Nowak said Ziobro would not have been able to travel in this way had a European Arrest Warrant (EAW) been issued for him. Prosecutors applied for one on February 10, but the request is still before the Warsaw Regional Court.
“Because Zbigniew Ziobro was not internationally wanted, there was no European Arrest Warrant,” Nowak said. “Despite the prosecutor’s request, there were no grounds for detention.”
He added, however, that this did not mean Ziobro was free of legal consequences. “Zbigniew Ziobro is a suspect. He is wanted in Poland under a wanted notice,” Nowak said. “Helping a suspect wanted in Poland avoid criminal responsibility, including by fleeing, is a crime.”
The case also involves Tomasz Sakiewicz, editor-in-chief of the conservative broadcaster TV Republika, who was questioned on Wednesday as a witness. Prosecutors are examining whether anyone helped Ziobro avoid criminal responsibility, including by assisting his departure from Europe.
Nowak said Sakiewicz gave testimony but refused to answer most questions, including by invoking journalistic privilege.
He added that Sakiewicz also made statements for the record that were “non-substantive” and political in nature.
Justice Minister and Prosecutor-General Waldemar Żurek said the decision to question Sakiewicz was made by prosecutors.
Speaking at the headquarters of the National Council of the Judiciary (KRS) in Warsaw, he said prosecutors had the right to examine whether Ziobro’s sudden media role was used to help him leave the country.
“We must be aware that a person who is wanted in Poland suddenly becomes a correspondent for one of the media outlets,” Żurek said. “The prosecutor’s office has the right to check whether anyone helped someone who is today a fugitive in Poland, and whether those actions can be classified as helping him flee, which is a crime in Poland.”
Prosecutors accuse Ziobro of directing an organized criminal group, abusing his office and ordering subordinates to break the law in order to channel grants to favored organizations.
The Sejm, the lower house of parliament, agreed in late 2025 to Ziobro’s detention and temporary arrest. Prosecutors then issued a decision to present him with charges over alleged irregularities in the Justice Fund. Ziobro denies wrongdoing and says the case is politically motivated.
Hungary also granted international protection to Marcin Romanowski, a former deputy justice minister and current PiS lawmaker who is wanted in a related case.
A Warsaw court reissued a European Arrest Warrant for Romanowski in mid-February. His current whereabouts have not been confirmed.
Hungarian Prime Minister Péter Magyar said on Tuesday that Budapest had learned of Ziobro’s departure for the United States from the media.
He said Hungarian government information indicated that Ziobro did not leave Hungary through the Schengen border and most likely traveled to the United States from another European Union country.
Magyar also told broadcaster TVN24 that there were “signs” Romanowski had left Hungary through Serbia.
(rt/gs)
Sources: TVP Info, Reuters, IAR, PAP