Chief prosecutor asks parliament for consent to force former minister to testify in Pegasus inquiry

Zbigniew Ziobro, who has been summoned multiple times as a witness by the parliamentary investigative commission on Pegasus, has so far failed to appear at its sessions.

The commission had initially forwarded its request to Bodnar at the beginning of November, prompting the Prosecutor General to pass the matter to the Speaker of the Sejm.

"Analysis shows that the parliamentary investigative commission has exhausted all procedural measures under the Code of Criminal Prodecure to conduct the hearing of Zbigniew Ziobro as a witness. (...) These actions have proven ineffective, justifying a deviation from the constitutional principle of parliamentary immunity in cases of unjustified failure to appear before an authority," the prosecutor's office said in a statement.

The Chancellery of the Sejm confirmed it had received the request on Friday afternoon. "The request has already been forwarded to the legal services of the Sejm Chancellery for urgent analysis. Sejm Speaker Szymon Hołownia has assigned the matter the highest priority," the statement reads.

The commission has already summoned Ziobro four times. The politician has neither appeared nor provided valid justification for his absences, despite a medical expert’s report indicating that his health condition does not prevent him from testifying.