03/01/2024, 06:08
TV Company Republika deleted the recording of Jan Pietrzak's statement from the YouTube channel (screen: YouTube/Goniec)
“Attack on the free media” and “freedom of speech” – these were the phrases used to defend the TV company “Republika”, which broadcast the scandalous statement of Jan Pietrzak about immigrants. The Warsaw District Prosecutor's Office, which has already received at least two reports on this case, has started an investigation.
The investigation was started under Art. 257 of the Criminal Code, which refers to “publicly insulting a group of people because of its national and ethnic affiliation.” Such behavior is punishable by imprisonment for up to three years.
Complaint about Pietrzak's infamous words on Republika TV
This refers to Jan Pietrzak's Sunday statement: “I have a cruel joke with these immigrants. That they hope that the Poles are ready, because we have barracks. We have barracks for immigrants in Auschwitz, Majdanek, Treblinka, Stutovo, we have many barracks built here. By the Germans.
Also read: TVP propaganda star Danuta Holetska brought TV company “Today” to TV company “Republica”
Justice Minister Adam Bodnar said on Monday that he has asked national prosecutor Dariusz Barski to look into Jan Pietrzak's statements and open an investigation. In addition to Adam Bodnar, the case was handed over to the Prosecutor's Office by the Center for Monitoring Racist and Xenophobic Behavior. “We informed the Warsaw District Prosecutor's Office about the propaganda of Nazism and racist threats spread by Pietrzak,” the center said on social media.
I asked the national prosecutor Dariush Barski @PK_GOV_PL Ian Pietrzak discusses the issue of the announcement @RepublikaTV and start an investigation.
— Adam Bodnar (@Adbodnar) January 1, 2024
We reported the crime committed by Pietrzak and TV REPUBLIKA
We reported to the Warsaw District Prosecutor's Office about Pietrzak's promotion of widespread Nazism and racist threats.
Support our work on: https://t.co/XhAExZzKOl pic.twitter.com/umO4pBHHI5
— Racist Behavior Monitoring Center (@OmzRi) January 1, 2024
According to the order of the General Prosecutor and in connection with the notifications received by the Warsaw District Prosecutor's Office, a case was started today regarding the statements of the participant of the program on Telewizja Republika on December 31, 2023, – said Szymon Bana. Spokesman of the Warsaw District Prosecutor's Office. – The collection of evidence in the case is underway. The process is ongoing, which means no one has been charged.
Also read: Thanks to the suspension of TVP Info, TV Republika won. Sakievich is asking for donations
Your complaint to the head of the National Broadcasting Council, Mackay Swirsky, Directed by Krzysztof Luft, former member of the National Broadcasting Council and media expert.
Complaint to the National Broadcasting Council on TVN24 on Tuesday, Prof. Tadeusz Kowalski, lawyer, member of the National Broadcasting Council, elected on behalf of the Senate. He decided that the broadcaster – TV Republika – should also be punished for not having a presenter, Katarzyna Goiska. Polish journalists criticized the satirical words.
Following the words of Jan Pietrzak
In the meantime, people associated with the right-wing media defended the TV company “Republika”.
Also read: Broadcasting of TVP's “Wiadomości” on TV Republika was against the law.
– Professor Kowalski is guided by political and not substantive reasons. I think if a civil platform politician made a scandalous statement, he would have defended it by saying that it was freedom of speech – commented the member of the National Media Council and PiS MP Joanna Lichoka. He also added: – Jan Pietrzak's statement is an excuse to fight the media that is not subject to post-communism. Hence the actions of Minister Bodnar to somehow punish Telewizja Republika.
Former Deputy Minister of Justice Michał Woś (Suwerenna Polska) said in an interview with DoRzeczy.pl that Pietrzak's statement was manipulated, cut out of the larger whole and lacking in context. He added that this was a pretext for the attack on the “Republica” TV station, which has become an important news media in Poland.
Tomasz Sakievic spoke similarly on his station on Tuesday. Michal Rachon also believes that Adam Bodnar's actions are an attack, first of all, on Republic TV. Immediately after Bodnar announced the start of an investigation into Jan Pietrzak's scandalous words, Rachon wrote on social media: “A few days after public media was reprimanded, Tusk's prosecutor's office starts a fight against private media. Telewizja Republika will not give you. We will fight for freedom of speech. #ZamachNaMedia”.
Tusk's prosecutor's office starts a fight against the private media a few days after the public media is blocked. @RepublikaTV He won't give up. We will fight for freedom of speech. #AttackOnMedia
— michal.rachon (@michalrachon) January 1, 2024
Also read: Michal Rachon, program director of TV Republika. The station expanded its terrestrial coverage
Jan Pietrzak says that he only criticized German policy and does not understand what a storm is.
“This statement is drastic, because Germans do drastic things. Sending emigrants who come to them to other countries, without the consent of these emigrants and with the will of Germany, is a crime,” he said in an interview with Gazeta.pl. He added: “No one forbade me to mention what the Germans did in Poland. They built concentration camps where they took people to be killed. I just reminded them that the Germans did such things.”
However, the television station removed the recording of his statement from the YouTube channel.
Also read: The restoration of public media could cause a tectonic movement in the market
(PAR, HAD, 03/01/2024)
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