Żurek to review prosecution measures in journalists’ sources case — Interia

In Poland, Minister of Justice and Prosecutor General Waldemar Żurek said he would review what measures the prosecutor’s office had taken in a case concerning the possible identification of Wirtualna Polska journalists’ sources. Interia reports. According to Żurek, he learned about the described actions from the media and must establish the circumstances of the specific case.

Investigation into an information leak

According to Wirtualna Polska, following a complaint by Senator Tomasz Lenz, the prosecutor’s office is conducting proceedings into the disclosure to a journalist of information about his son’s medical procedure. The procedure was carried out in March at a hospital in the city of Aleksandrów Kujawski.

Earlier, reports emerged of possible violations in the provision of medical care, including bypassing the standard registration procedure at the admissions department. Following reports of these possible violations, Lenz was expelled from the Civic Coalition.

Wirtualna Polska reported that in June the editorial office received a letter from police in Bydgoszcz requesting the disclosure of the sources of information used in an April publication. The journalists refused, citing press law provisions that allow informants to remain anonymous.

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The hospital director’s phone

According to Wirtualna Polska, in September the director of the hospital in Aleksandrów Kujawski, Mariusz Trojanowski, was summoned to give testimony and ordered to hand over his phone. Agnieszka Adamska-Okońska, spokeswoman for the District Prosecutor’s Office in Bydgoszcz, confirmed to the outlet that the phone was seized because, in investigators’ view, it could have been used to transmit information. She provided no further details.

Wirtualna Polska also claims that the order to hand over the phone included the details of its reporter Michał Janczura and his phone number. The prosecutor’s office assured the editorial office that the journalist’s call records had not been checked.

Żurek stressed that attorney-client, journalistic and confessional secrecy are fundamental principles that a democratic state must observe. He added that he would first review exactly what measures had been applied in this case.