"I'm innocent". Former senator and oppositionist Józef Pinior found guilty of corruption

"I'm innocent. I've been stressing that for two years now. This yet another political provocation by Mr Kamiński and Mr Ziobro. This trial, after democracy has finally prevailed in Poland, will be a textbook example of Law and Justice police state's operations. A state in which we've been witnessing manipulating facts and wiretapping" - Józef Pinior said in February 2019 (Mr Pinior has agreed to have his full name published) before seeing the court of the first instance. The court, however, found him guilty of corruption and sentenced him to 18 months in prison. Mr Pinior appealed against the court's decision.

On March 3, 2021, the District Court in Wrocław upheld the first instance verdict and once more found the former communist-era opposition member and former senator guilty of corruption. The sentence hasn't been changed, and this means that Józef Pinior will go to prison for 18 months. The court also decided to sentence former senator's assistant, Jarosław Wardęga, to 18 months in prison as well.

"In the appeal, the defence questioned the assessment of evidence. According to the court, the evidence was collected and assessed correctly. The court of the first instance had carried out their inquiry into matter correctly too. The key pieces of evidence were recordings of conversations between the defendants. Their credibility is unquestionable. There is also no doubt that loans were granted in a corrupt fashion" - the judge said to substantiate the verdict. He added that despite the public prosecutor's call for more severe punishment, the court decided the one handed down by the court of the first instance had been apt.

Mr Pinior pleaded no guilty, and so did his former assistant. In the closing argument, both asked the court for a full pardon or to refer the case back to the first instance. The prosecutor demanded that both be sentenced for 42 months in prison each.

The former senator and one the most prominent opposition activists in communist Poland had been charged with taking bribes amounting to tens of thousand zlotys. Apart from him, in the dock sat his former assistant Jarosław Wardęga, as well as three businessmen - Tomasz G., Albin M. and Krystian S. - who were said to have been offering the bribes.

According to the investigators, Mr Pinior had conditioned his actions as senator on receiving bribes. They also claimed that in 2015 Pinior had accepted 40,000 zlotys for favourable decisions benefitting a businessman investing in the Lower Silesian province. The investigators also said that the bribe accepted by Pinior had been transferred to his bank account.

The money, according to the investigators, was being transferred directly to the senator's account as well sent via mail. Another piece of evidence was in the form of recorded conversations between the defendants, in which they demand having their money transferred. The defendants claimed the talks had pertained to loans, and not bribes. The former senator stressed that his influence in public offices had not been conditioned on receiving financial gains.