A former minister from Poland, who was wanted by justice and had taken refuge in Hungary, has now fled to the US
A former Polish minister of justice, Zbigniew Ziobro, wanted by the justice system in his country, fled to Hungary, where he found refuge when Viktor Orban was prime minister, and is now in the US, Polish media reported on Sunday.
Ziobro risks up to 25 years in prison for embezzling funds intended for victims of crimes to purchase the Pegasus spy program with the alleged purpose of monitoring political opponents, Agerpres cites.
A day after his victory in April, the new Hungarian Prime Minister Peter Magyar, who took office on Saturday, promised that he would no longer offer refuge to people wanted by international justice.
Ziobro announced in January 2026 that he obtained “asylum” in Hungary, together with his wife.
“Hungary will no longer be a haven for internationally wanted criminals,” said Peter Magyar, mentioning Ziobro and one of his deputies, Marcin Romanowski, suspected of embezzling nearly 40 million euros. The latter had obtained political asylum in Hungary in 2024.
On Sunday, Polish conservative TV station Republika reported that Ziobro was in the US, and news channel TVN24 published a photo of the former justice minister at Newark airport, near New York.
Reporting on the case, Agence France Presse said that the spokesperson of the Polish Ministry of Foreign Affairs had not yet responded to a request for comment. According to the Polish authorities, the passport of former minister Ziobro had been revoked.
The Office of the General Prosecutor in Warsaw wrote on X that “it has no data to confirm the departure of the suspect from the Schengen area”.
The current Polish Minister of Justice, Waldemar Zurek, told Polsat News that “if Ziobro's presence in the United States is confirmed, then (Poland) will request his extradition.”
Zbigniew Ziobro is indicted by the Polish judiciary for abuse of power and association for the purpose of committing crimes during the period in which he held the positions of Minister of Justice and Prosecutor General in the governments of the Law and Justice party (PiS, nationalist) between 2015 and 2023.
Ziobro is also the initiator of a series of controversial judicial reforms. These reforms caused a conflict between Poland and the European Commission, which considered that they undermined the rule of law and the balance of power in the state.
