European arrest warrant issued for former Polish deputy justice minister granted asylum in Hungary

Polish authorities have issued a European arrest warrant for former Deputy Justice Minister Marcin Romanowski, who had previously been granted political asylum in Hungary, Reuters reports, citing the Polish news agency PAP.

Romanowski was a member of the nationalist-conservative Law and Justice (PiS) government and is suspected by the Polish prosecutor's office of, among other things, misuse of public funds. The Hungarian government granted him asylum in 2024, which caused major tension between Warsaw and Budapest. The government even amended the law so that Romanowski could be granted asylum, arguing that he would not receive a fair trial in his home country.

Hungary has not only granted asylum to Romanowski, but also to the former Justice Minister Zbigniew Ziobro, which we reported on in more detail in this article. Ziobro is one of the highest-ranking politicians targeted by the Polish prosecutor's office: he is facing 26 charges, including abuse of office and running a criminal organization.

Ziobro and Romanowski have previously described the proceedings against them as a political witch hunt, while the Hungarian government has repeatedly accused the pro-European Polish leadership that took over from PiS of persecuting its political opponents. The Tusk cabinet rejected these claims, emphasizing that this was not a political vendetta, but rather a matter of restoring the rule of law and enforcing the law.