In Poland, an officer with the State Protection Service (SOP) responsible for the safety of state officials, allegedly made death threats against a journalist with independent Polish media outlet TV Republika, which the station has broadcast excerpts of.
The SOP officer cannot be named due to Poland’s privacy laws but was the chief security detail to foreign minister Radosław Sikorski. He is shown in the material aired by TV Republika yesterday to have made threats of deadly revenge against that TV station’s investigative journalist Piotr Nisztor.
The conversation that was aired included talk of torture, murder and killing the journalist’s dogs. It took place between SOP officers in February 2024 and the subject of it was the SOP officer’s frustration with Nisztor over materials that the journalist published about the officer concerned.
The recording includes vulgar language and threats against Nisztor of beating, torture, pouring fuel over his corpse and killing his two dogs.
“I’ll break his legs with a baton and then I’ll pour fuel over him,” the officer apparently says in the recording.
Nisztor commented on the revelations: “I am shocked that a man who protects the most important people in the state, who until recently was part of the protection detail for the Deputy Prime Minister and foreign minister of the Polish Government directs such gruesome threats against me.”
The motive for the officer’s outburst appears to be the journalist’s articles and books, including the publication Sharks of War: Who Really Profits from Trading Polish Weapons?, which describes the story of the officer and his alleged “moonlighting”.
In 2014, Nisztor wrote in the weekly Wprost about the officer: “Foreign inister Radosław Sikorski is one of the most important and influential people in Poland. He not only has access to the most secret materials but also participates in making strategic decisions for the state.
“It is therefore no surprise that SOP officers ensure his safety around the clock. The problem is that the contacts one of his officers keeps raise doubts and may endanger the minister’s security.”
He then outlined his alleged findings about those contacts.
“The officer maintained unclear relations with a French arms dealer suspected of ties to foreign intelligence services. In January 2012, they travelled together to Africa on a private plane chartered by the President of Gambia while the officer was formally on leave and did not inform anyone about his trip.”
The SOP was approached for comment on the tapes but chose not to respond until today when the service said the officer involved had already been suspended on different charges. It added that the SOP would now inform the public prosecutors about the remarks the officer made about the journalist.
TV Republika is an independent conservative television news channel with the highest viewing figures among Polish news channels. It is highly critical of the Prime Minister Donald Tusk’s government, which has on occasion excluded it from its press conferences.
According to Tomasz Sakiewicz, the CEO of the channel, there have been more than 100 investigations by public prosecutors into the activities of TV Republika journalists, which he considers to be evidence of intimidation and hounding of a broadcaster.
