UPDATE – Official: Hungary grants asylum to former Polish Minister Ziobro and other polish citizens

It has now been officially confirmed that Zbigniew Ziobro, former Polish Minister of Justice, and his wife are the two Polish nationals who have been granted political asylum by the Hungarian government. Ziobro himself announced the decision on Monday in a post published on X in both Polish and English, putting an end to days of speculation and transforming a diplomatic dispute into an openly acknowledged political conflict between Budapest and Warsaw.

Confirmation after days of diplomatic tension

In recent days, Poland summoned Hungary’s ambassador in Warsaw after it emerged that Hungary had granted asylum to two Polish citizens. Details: Hungary granted asylum to two Polish citizens, and Poland is not happy. At the time, neither the Hungarian government nor EU institutions disclosed the identities of those involved. Media reports, however, increasingly pointed to Ziobro, a senior figure of Poland’s former ruling party, as the likely beneficiary.

That assumption was confirmed when Ziobro wrote on X that he had decided to “make use of the asylum granted by the Hungarian government due to political persecution taking place in Poland.”

Statement

I have chosen to fight against political banditry and lawlessness. I stand in opposition to a creeping dictatorship. I do this in the name of the principles that I have always upheld, and for which I have now become the target of Donald Tusk’s personal vendetta and his…

— Zbigniew Ziobro | SP (@ZiobroPL) January 12, 2026

Serious criminal allegations against Polish minister

Ziobro, a prominent politician of the nationalist Law and Justice (PiS) party, is facing extensive criminal investigations in Poland. Prosecutors accuse him of founding and leading an organised criminal group during his tenure as justice minister under the previous PiS government. According to the Polish authorities, the group allegedly misappropriated funds from the Justice Fund, a state programme originally established to support victims of crime and finance crime prevention. Investigators claim that more than 150 million złoty (approximately €35 million) may have been unlawfully redirected to PiS-linked civil and quasi-civil organisations, as well as to other purposes unrelated to the fund’s original mandate.

Ziobro is suspected of involvement in a total of 26 criminal offences. In November 2025, Poland’s parliament stripped him of parliamentary immunity, and courts approved his pre-trial detention. If convicted, he could face a prison sentence of up to 25–30 years.

Flight to Hungary and political backing

Former Polish minister Ziobro arrived in Hungary in late October 2025 to attend a conference in Budapest, where he appeared alongside Gergely Gulyás, the minister heading the Prime Minister’s Office. He also posed for photographs with Viktor Orbán. Shortly afterwards, he failed to return to Poland and has remained in Hungary since.

Orbán has publicly defended Ziobro, arguing that Poland’s current, pro-Brussels government is conducting a politically motivated campaign against the Polish right. According to the Hungarian prime minister, the proceedings against Ziobro are part of a broader political “witch hunt”.

Hungary cites political persecution

The Hungarian Ministry of Foreign Affairs previously stated that the asylum decision was made in line with EU law, citing what it described as a crisis of the rule of law in Poland. “Several individuals in Poland are subject to politically motivated persecution,” the ministry said in a written response. “Hungary grants refugee status to those suffering political persecution in accordance with European Union regulations.”

An official notification sent by the Orbán government to the Council of the European Union on December 23, 2025, confirmed that two Polish citizens had been granted asylum, but did not identify them by name.

A pattern: earlier asylum for another Polish official

Ziobro is not the first high-ranking Polish minister to receive asylum in Hungary. In 2024, his former deputy, Marcin Romanowski, who faces multiple criminal charges in Poland, was also granted political asylum by the Orbán government. Romanowski is currently living in Budapest.

Poland’s Chief Prosecutor’s Office has since confirmed that it is examining whether Hungarian citizens may have assisted Romanowski in evading arrest. Under Polish law, helping a wanted person hide or flee can carry a prison sentence of up to five years.

Growing rift between Warsaw and Budapest

The confirmation of Ziobro’s asylum deepens tensions between Poland and Hungary at a time when relations are already strained. While Budapest frames the case as one of political persecution, Warsaw insists that Ziobro is a central figure in a large-scale corruption scandal and is deliberately avoiding accountability.

Orbán and the Hungarian government are also unacceptable to the Polish president, and he made this clear when the Polish president, Karol Nawrocki, cancelled a meeting with Orbán after his trip to Moscow. However, relations between Nawrocki and the current Polish government are strained, and both sides reject the Hungarian government’s foreign policy towards Russia.

It is true that Nawrocki seems to be willing to meet with Orbán after all and may visit Budapest during the Hungarian election campaign, according to dorzeczy.pl. Whether the Polish politician will cancel this meeting at the last minute is still an open question.

Beyond bilateral relations, the case is likely to fuel further debate within the European Union over the rule of law, judicial independence, and the use of political asylum by member states to shield former officials accused of serious criminal wrongdoing.

Read also: Poland’s foreign minister, Radoslaw Sikorski slams PM Orbán and PM Fico again for Russia ties

UPDATE

Foreign Minister: Several Polish citizens have been granted asylum in Hungary

The Hungarian authorities have granted asylum to several individuals who would be subject to political persecution in Poland, confirmed Péter Szijjártó, Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade, on Monday in Budapest.

Responding to a journalist’s question, the minister reported that democracy and the rule of law are in crisis and under threat in Poland, as evidenced by the fact that Polish public television has been effectively taken over. “Many people are subject to political persecution, and of course here in Hungary, if someone requests asylum due to political persecution, we consider it carefully and assess such requests in accordance with existing Hungarian and European Union rules,” he said.

“We have indeed received such requests from Poland, and we have accepted several of them, granting asylum or refugee status to people suffering political persecution in Poland,” he said, but did not want to mention specific names, given the persecuted situation of those involved.