On Thursday, 12 November, police officers entered the headquarters of Telewizja Republika in Warsaw and presented a demand from the Szczecin District Prosecutor’s Office. It concerns the recording of the 16 October broadcast and the licensing documentation.
Telewizja Republika announced the police presence at its headquarters at around 11:12 a.m. on X, labelling the post “URGENT” and starting a live broadcast.
What the Prosecutors Are Demanding
According to media reports, officers from the Central Bureau for Combating Cybercrime (CBZC) were on site. Acting on the orders of the Szczecin District Prosecutor’s Office, they handed station management a document demanding the surrender of the recording and the licensing documentation.
The order concerns, according to its quoted content, all files containing the recording of the programme broadcast on 16 October between 12:00 and 14:59, which covered events in front of the Constitutional Tribunal building.
Investigation into Events at the Constitutional Tribunal (TK)
The Szczecin prosecutors are investigating a suspected offence against police officers and the prime minister. It concerns events of 16 October in front of the Constitutional Tribunal. As of publication, the prosecutor’s office had not issued its own statement on the matter, and the station had not described its position in detail beyond the post about the police presence.
A political dispute has been raging for days around the Constitutional Tribunal and the police presence in front of it, and the station has been commenting on it on air. In the programme “W Punkt”, Katarzyna Gójska spoke overnight about police “in full gear” and about barriers and barbed wire at the Tribunal, while Marek Jakubiak said on Tuesday evening that introducing laws through the police was lawlessness.
The issue of the station’s recordings arises at a time when, as announced, steps are also under way regarding a possible motion to the National Broadcasting Council (KRRiT) to penalise Republika, as right-wing media have reported. There is no confirmation of this in any institutional document.
