Judgment regarding the “Green Border”. Zbigniew Ziobro must apologize to Agnieszka Holland and pay

PiS politician and former Minister of Justice Zbigniew Ziobro must apologize to director Agnieszka Holland for statements comparing her film “Green Border” to Nazi propaganda, and also donate PLN 50,000. PLN for the “Children of the Holocaust” Association – according to the judgment of the District Court in Warsaw

The verdict was announced in the media on Tuesday by Holland's representatives in the case – attorneys Sylwia Gregorczyk-Abram and Michał Wawrykiewicz. The case concerned statements by Ziobro – then head of the Ministry of Justice – in the fall of 2023 attacking Holland and the film “Green Border” directed by her, which touched on the migration crisis on the Polish-Belarusian border.

In an interview with PAP, Gregorczyk-Abram pointed out that it's about, among other things, about Ziobro's X entries comparing Holland and her film to Nazi and Soviet propaganda. She cited, among others: entry by the former head of the Ministry of Justice from September 2023 referring to the premiere in Minsk of a Belarusian propaganda film about the situation of Belarusians in pre-war Poland. “Did Holland inspire Lukashenko? The Soviets and Nazis used propaganda films to destroy the image of Poland and Poles. Nowadays, the authors have changed, but the methods have remained the same…” Ziobro wrote then.

In another entry from the same period, Ziobro wrote, for example, that “in the Third Reich, the Germans produced propaganda films showing Poles as bandits and murderers; today they have Agnieszka Holland for that…”

Holland's success in court with the shadow of the neo-KRS

In response, the director filed a lawsuit against the politician for the protection of his personal rights; On Tuesday, the judgment in the first instance in the case was issued – as reported by Gregorczyk-Abram – by the XXV Civil Division of the District Court in Warsaw.

According to the judgment, Ziobro must apologize to Holland by publishing an entry on stigmatizing terms. Zbigniew Ziobro.

In addition Ziobro was obliged to pay PLN 50,000. PLN for a social purpose – i.e. for the “Children of the Holocaust” Associationdealing with building a community of Holocaust survivors and preserving the memory of the Holocaust and the history of the Jewish community in Poland.

However, Gregorczyk-Abram emphasized that the adjudicating panel in this case included a person appointed to a judicial position in a faulty procedure with the participation of the neo-KRS (the so-called neo-judge). In an interview with PAP, she emphasized that Holland's attorneys had unsuccessfully requested the exclusion of this person from the beginning of the proceedings. According to the attorney, this constitutes the basis for a possible appeal against the judgment. (PAP)

We plan to continue the topic

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