Minister of Justice and lawyer General Waldemar Żurek announced on July 29 that after training more than 100 prosecutors teams from bias-motivated crimes have directed more than 280 indictments to courts. It is simply a stronger reaction of the state to real force and hate, but besides a test of whether power will respect freedom of speech.
50 units after the Minister's decision
The case didn't start with a conference statement. Regulation of the Minister of Justice published in the authoritative diary of the Laws on 6 February 2026. appointed 50 units of prosecutors to conduct proceedings in cases of criminal offences motivated by prejudice. The list includes 49 regional prosecutors and the territory Attorney's Office in Warsaw for the heaviest, most crucial or most complicated cases.
These are the facts. The state builds specialization in matters that may concern violence, threats, public provocations, insults due to nationality, religion, origin, but besides insulting the Polish Nation or images of spiritual feelings. This catalog is wide. Therefore, it requires precisely the kind of control the right should apply to all criminal instrument in the hands of power.
The OKO.press had previously stated that the solution was followed by Minister Waldemar Żurek, and the case was to be attended by prosecutor Maciej Młynarczyk, known for his investigations into hatred speech. The same portal indicated that investigations in specialized units were to begin as of March. present the ministry is talking about results.
Accusation act alternatively of redemption
By PAP study quoted by Onet Żurek reported on July 29 that more than 100 prosecutors were trained, and in short time more than 280 indictments were sent to the courts. The minister argued that many applications had previously ended in remission, and after the changes, the cases were to go to court faster.
In terms of beatings, threats, property destruction, public incitement to force or intimidation of circumstantial people, the state cannot pretend to be blind. Public order is not a left-wing whim. It is simply a condition for the safety of citizens. The Polish state has a work to defend people against violence, besides erstwhile the victim is simply a Ukrainian citizen surviving in Poland.
But that's where the most crucial line begins. The indictment cannot be a reward for political correctness and remission cannot be a punishment for deficiency of adequate sensitivity. The D.A. is expected to be in charge of the law, not the temper for editorial, NGO or organization cabinet.
Border: force yes, censorship no
The National diary has repeatedly warned that the slogan of fighting hatred speech can be utilized as a convenient description for views uncomfortable for liberal-left elites. We've already described how Constitutional Tribunal stopped the hatred speech bill. Good, due to the fact that the state cannot punish a citizen for a harsh but legal opinion.
Poles have the right to talk hard about migration, benefits costs, labour market, safety and relations with Ukraine. They have the right to match Volyn. They have the right to criticise the decisions of Kiev, Brussels and Warsaw. This must not be thrown into 1 bag with a man being beaten up in the street or threats at his address.
Therefore, a more effective prosecution is only good if it works precisely. If he's after real actions, he strengthens the state. If he starts pursuing the language of public debate according to the political key, he will weaken the freedom of Poles. And freedom of speech is not an addition to democracy. He's 1 of the conditions of power control.
Żurek under peculiar observation
In the case of Waldemar Lurk, trust cannot be automatic. It is simply a minister, around whom there is simply a sharp dispute over the regulation of law, the scope of the ministry's power and the limits of political interference in the justice system. We wrote about it on the occasion of questions, Whether Waldemar Zurk is facing 25 years in prisonwhere there was a dispute over the limits of the work of public officials.
All the more reason to look at the department's hands. Over 280 indictments sound like proof of fitness. Could be. But the number itself does not yet say whether all case was well qualified, whether the evidence is strong, or whether the prosecution distinguishes violent action from political opinion. That's what the courts will decide.
The right should not be drawn into a false choice. There is no consent to force against Ukrainians, Jews, Poles or anyone else. And there is no agreement to the censorial extension of the notion of hatred to include a average dispute over national interest.
A strong state knows its own limits
Poland needs a country able to respond quickly. Especially today, erstwhile the war in Ukraine, migratory pressure, Russian propaganda and social tensions enter Polish everyday life. The impunity of force feeds chaos. Chaos hits average people, then the sovereign state.
However, a strong state is not a state without brakes. The power of the prosecutor's office is that he pursues crimes alternatively than rise the nation according to an ideological textbook. He's expected to punish the perpetrators, not the citizens for uncomfortable sentences.
If Żurek's teams keep an eye on this border, their work can service public order. If the border breaks, the fight against hatred will become a tool of force on the debate. The stakes for Poles are simple: safety without censorship. Law without political training. A strong state, but kept on a leash of constitutional freedom.
Source: diary of Laws, PAP/Onet, OKO.press.
Source: OKO.press
