WARSAW — Polish lawmakers voted to strip former Justice Minister Zbigniew Ziobro of his parliamentary immunity and green-lighted his arrest Friday evening, marking an escalation of the political power struggle between the coalition government led by Prime Minister Donald Tusk and the opposition Law and Justice (PiS) party. Tusk made holding PiS to account for alleged corruption one of his headline promises in the campaign ahead of the 2023 general election, which his coalition won, ending eight years of PiS rule. Ziobro — who was justice minister in two PiS administrations — is a key figure in a probe seeking to find out why and how the PiS government allegedly purchased Pegasus spyware to spy on political opponents. The spyware purchase is part of a wider scandal, the Tusk government claims, involving alleged misuse of the so-called Justice Fund — a special pool of money under the justice minister’s control that was set up to help crime victims. Prosecutors accuse Ziobro specifically of leading an “organized crime group” in the Justice Ministry that embezzled some 150 million złoty (€35 million) from the Justice Fund. Other charges include lack of oversight and mishandling of documents. If indicted, Ziobro could face up to 25 years in prison. The parliamentary action on Friday was actually a series of 27 separate votes — one vote on each of the 26 charges levied against Ziobro by the prosecutors, plus a final vote on detention and arrest. The final vote was 244-198 against Ziobro, with no abstentions. A final decision to arrest Ziobro lies with the court. “Let the law always mean law, and justice — justice,” Tusk said on social media after the votes, referring to the name of the opposition party. Ziobro, who has been in Budapest since late October, denies all the charges. The former minister accused Tusk of acting to preempt corruption charges against himself. Tusk “knows that we were conducting, under my supervision, investigations into suspected corruption in which he may have been involved,” Ziobro told broadcaster TV Republika after the parliament’s action. PiS has stood firmly behind its former minister, attacking the government for exacting political revenge on the minister and accusing the administration of a lack of ethics in going after Ziobro, who has been undergoing treatment for esophageal cancer. “The prosecution has been taken over by force and has been operating illegally since. I believe it may take some time, but all those involved will face justice — and today’s developments will certainly increase their sentences,” PiS Chairman Jarosław Kaczyński told reporters in the parliament, according to Onet. Ziobro has been observing the events in Budapest, where he has found a safe haven alongside another former Justice Ministry official, Marcin Romanowski, who was granted political asylum by the administration of Prime Minister Viktor Orban. Ziobro also met with Orban last week. Ahead of the vote, Ziobro hinted he would not apply for asylum and plans to return to Poland. “Since this issue came up while I’m here, I decided to stay a bit longer, but I won’t extend my visit indefinitely. I will inform you of my next decisions in due course,” Ziobro said.

BERLIN — One of Hungary’s most outspoken critics in Brussels has filed a criminal complaint against Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán following a failed attempt to hack his email account using spyware in the run-up to the European Parliament elections. German Green MEP Daniel Freund and German NGO the Society for Civil Rights named “Viktor Orbán and unknown” in the complaint, which was seen by POLITICO, and requested that the state prosecutor in the western German city of Krefeld and cyber crime authorities launch an investigation. “There are indications that the Hungarian secret service is behind the attack,” Freund and the NGO said in a joint statement on Wednesday. The complaint gives details about an email that someone claiming to be a Ukrainian student sent to Freund’s parliamentary email address at the end of May 2024. The message asked the MEP to write a short message in which he would share his “beliefs concerning the accession of Ukraine to the European Union,” as well as a link. Freund did not click on the link. The complaint said that Parliament warned Freund that the link contained spyware likely made by the Israeli company Candiru, which was blacklisted by the U.S. government in 2021 for human rights violations. “According to the EU Parliament’s IT experts, the Hungarian government could be behind the eavesdropping on me,” Freund said in a statement. “This comes as no surprise: Orbán despises democracy and the rule of law. If the suspicion is confirmed, it would be an outrageous attack on the European Parliament.” Freund and the NGO asked prosecutors to open an investigation to clarify “the facts of the case” through investigative measures including the questioning of witnesses and conducting an independent forensic analysis. The Hungarian government had not responded to a request for comment at the time of publication. If a device is infected with spyware, attackers can access all stored data and communications. They can also activate the camera and microphone to listen in on conversations. Freund has been one of the key players to have successfully advocated for EU funds for Hungary to be frozen. He also led a push to suspend Hungary’s presidency of the Council of the EU last year.