Poland has formally asked the United States to detain and extradite former justice minister Zbigniew Ziobro, who is wanted at home on 26 criminal charges relating to the management of a fund for victims of crime.
The prosecution service said on July 27 that the application had been passed through diplomatic channels to the competent American authorities. Government spokesman Adam Szlapka announced the move on social media the same day.
Ziobro served as justice minister and prosecutor general throughout the Conservative (PiS) government of 2015 to 2023 and remains an MP. Prosecutors accuse him of establishing and leading an organised criminal group inside his ministry and of abusing his powers for political gain.
The case centres on the Justice Fund, money earmarked for supporting crime victims and preventing crime. Prosecutors allege around 150 million zloty (€35 million) was diverted, including 25 million zloty used to buy Israeli-made Pegasus spyware later deployed against opponents of the then government.
The extradition request covers 19 of the alleged offences. Prosecutors said the narrower scope reflected the position of the Warsaw courts, which found the evidence on seven of the acts did not show a high probability they had been committed.
They stressed the domestic investigation still covers all 26. The file rests on a 1996 extradition treaty between the two countries.
The papers will now be assessed by the US Department of Justice before any referral to a federal judge, who would rule on whether surrender is legally permissible. Prosecution spokeswoman Anna Adamiak said comparable cases had taken anywhere from a few months to several years.
Ziobro left Poland for Hungary in late 2025 and was granted political asylum by Viktor Orbán’s Government, which had already sheltered his former deputy Marcin Romanowski. He flew to the United States in May as Orbán’s successor Péter Magyar was sworn in, having pledged to end that protection.
He now holds no valid travel documents after Warsaw cancelled his passports and Budapest revoked his refugee status. A Warsaw court sanctioned his pre-trial detention in February and rejected his appeal earlier this month.
Asked when an extradition might happen, Prime Minister Donald Tusk said the question was one for “the other Donald”. He added that Warsaw was waiting for positive signals from Washington but did not know whether they would come.
Reuters reported in May that US deputy secretary of state Christopher Landau had personally instructed officials to facilitate a visa for Ziobro, a decision Tusk condemned at the time.
Ziobro, whose judicial overhaul triggered a prolonged rule-of-law dispute with the European Union, denies the accusations and calls the case political revenge. He told broadcaster TV Republika he was pleased it would be heard “before an American court”.
