US Helped Former Polish Minister Flee to America

US Deputy Secretary of State Christopher Landau instructed senior officials to facilitate a visa for former Polish Justice Minister Zbigniew Ziobro, allowing him to leave Hungary for the United States, three people familiar with the matter told Reuters.

Poland is seeking to prosecute Ziobro on 26 charges, mainly related to the alleged misuse of money from a crime victims fund during the rule of the conservative Law and Justice party. Ziobro denies wrongdoing and says he is the target of a politically motivated campaign by Poland’s pro-European government.

Hungary’s former Prime Minister Viktor Orban granted Ziobro asylum in January. Warsaw had hoped that Orban’s defeat by pro-EU rival Peter Magyar in April would lead to Ziobro’s return to Poland. Magyar had said he would extradite him on his first day in office.

Instead, Landau directed officials at the State Department’s Consular Affairs Bureau to have the US embassy in Budapest issue Ziobro a visa. One source said Landau described the case as “a national security issue”, although Reuters could not determine the rationale for that designation.

The sources were unaware of any involvement by US President Donald Trump. It could not be determined what role, if any, Secretary of State Marco Rubio played in the decision.

(reuters, bak)