Back to the Profeto Foundation. The court rejects the defense's motions and the publicity is closed due to his health condition

The next hearing of the District Court in Warsaw regarding subsidies for the Profeto Foundation from the Justice Fund will be held on January 28. On Wednesday, the court did not accept most of the formal requests of the defendants' lawyers, including the suspension of the proceedings until the entire investigation into the FS was completed.

The first hearing regarding the indictment against six people, including Fr., was held at the District Court in Warsaw on Wednesday. Michał Olszewski and former officials of the Ministry of Justice. The case concerns irregularities related to the transfer of over PLN 66 million from the Justice Fund to the Profeto Foundation, despite its failure to meet formal and substantive requirements..

During the hearing, which lasted approximately six hours, the defendants' lawyers presented numerous formal motions, including: for the discontinuation of court proceedings, including their suspension and postponement, and in the case of newly appointed – according to the defense – illegally – lay judges. It was a preliminary, procedural stage of the trial, before the court begins the actual examination of the evidence.

The judge conducting the proceedings, Justyna Koska-Janusz, who did not agree to most of the defense lawyers' motions, closed the proceedings at the end of the session.. The reason was a request regarding Fr. Olszewski, where – as informed by the clergy's defender, Adv. Krzysztof Wąsowski – psychiatrists diagnosed an advanced stage of post-traumatic stress disorder.

– The court will continue its proceedings on January 28. We have not opened the court proceedings yet and the indictment has not been read. I think that the submission of further formal applications cannot be ruled out, but for now we will consider what to do next, said the lawyer of one of the accused, attorney-at-law, to the journalists after leaving the courtroom. Adam Gomoła.

The defense's most far-reaching conclusions included: application to discontinue court proceedings due to the lack of an authorized prosecutor. In this case, reference was made to the case of – as it was defined – usurpation in the National Prosecutor's Office. This is a dispute regarding the management of the National Prosecutor's Office, which began after in January 2024, the then Minister of Justice, Adam Bodnar, decided that the appointment of Dariusz Barski as head of the National Prosecutor's Office in 2022 was in violation of the law. After this decision, Jacek Bilewicz took over the duties of the head of the PK, and after the competition was resolved in March 2024, this position was taken over by Dariusz Korneluk.

Another request of the defenders concerned the suspension of the proceedings until the end of the entire and multi-layered investigation of the prosecutor's office regarding the Justice Fund, in which the suspects are other high-ranking former representatives of the Ministry of Justice, including former Minister of Justice, PiS MP Zbigniew Ziobro, and former deputy head of the Ministry of Justice, PiS MP Marcin Romanowski, who were under international protection in Hungary.

Earlier, the defendants' lawyers also questioned the correctness of the adjudicating panel due to the newly appointed lay judges and requested that the trial be postponed until February 17; However, the court also did not agree with this request. Then, the defense lawyers asked for the jurors to be excluded from the trial, among others. because they had too little time to read the case files.

In connection with this request, Judge Koska-Janusz announced that the request to exclude lay judges from adjudicating in the Profeto Foundation case will be presented to the chairman of the court's division in order to select a person who will hear the request.

According to information from the prosecutor's office, 360 volumes of files were submitted to the court regarding subsidies to the Profeto Foundation from the SF, the indictment itself consists of 377 pages, and the prosecutor's office requested the disclosure of 2,078 pieces of evidence at the hearing supporting the prosecution's thesis.

The case concerns the first indictment in the investigation into abuses at the Justice Fund, which was brought to the District Court in Warsaw in February 2025. Charges against the accused – Fr. Olszewski and former MS officials Urszula D. (former director of the Justice Fund Department at the Ministry of Justice) and Karolina Ś. (formerly Karolina K., also associated with the Department of the Justice Fund) – include, among others: participation in an organized criminal group.

Other officials were also on the stand, including Monika G., former deputy director of the Justice Fund Department, and specialists Marcin M. and Wojciech Z., accused of certifying untruths in the competition documentation and exceeding their powers in order to illegally award a subsidy. All defendants, their defense lawyers and prosecutors were present at the meeting. (PAP)

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