On Wednesday, March 31, the first trial was held at the Lublin Regional Court, in which the accused is Pastor Paweł Chojecki, the editor-in-chief of Against The Tide TV. – The prosecution prepared the indictment based on materials provided by people who for years have been hating me and the Church and Television that I run – reports Pastor Chojecki. Indeed, during the trial, one of the authors of the report on the pastor refused to answer the questions, saying that it would lead to him facing criminal charges. The next hearing will be held on April 28.
Pastor Paweł Chojecki is accused of offending the religious feelings of Catholics, insulting objects of the Catholic worship, praising the initiation of aggressive war with communist North Korea (sic!), and insulting the Polish nation and President Andrzej Duda. He faces up to 5 years in prison.
During the six-hour hearing, it turned out that only some of the accusers of Pastor Chojecki are well versed in the matter of the charges, and four people play a key role: Radosław Patlewicz, Grzegorz Wysok, Paweł Bieganowski, and Adam Leks. These people run websites and publish defamatory materials of the pastor, the New Covenant Church in Lublin, and Against The Tide TV, in which the term “sect” is one of the lightest epithets. Accordingly, criminal proceedings are pending. One of the cases ended with an apology by a hater to a policeman, a member of the church, for defamation on account of his religious affiliation.
Surprisingly, the prosecutor’s office adopted as evidence material videos prepared by haters (short excerpts of Pastor Chojecki’s sermons and journalistic programs without context) with offensive and anti-Semitic titles. During the trial, some of the pastor’s accusers tried to refuse to answer the questions of Andrzej Turczyn, the defense attorney, aimed at establishing whether they were the authors of the hateful materials against Pastor Chojecki. One of them even informed the Court that answering those questions could lead to him facing criminal liability. Sometimes they also tried to justify themselves with oblivion.
Pastor Paweł Chojecki submitted extensive written explanations regarding each allegation on the grounds of the indictment. – I have shown that the Prosecutor’s Office misinterpreted my words, which when read in their full context, both in content and form, fit within the general framework of contemporary political debate and historical polemics between Protestants and Catholics. By denying me the right to criticize Catholic dogmas in the form I choose, and to evaluate the president’s political activities, the prosecutor’s office takes away my freedom to profess and preach my faith and suppresses the political debate in a democratic country. The accusation of communist North Korea, at war with the free world since 1950 and intimidating its neighbors with more missile tests, is so bizarre that it fits the “Trial” of Franz Kafka. I am shocked and very saddened by the quality of the work of the Prosecutor’s Office under the rule of Law and Justice. This is the level of dictatorial regimes – says Pastor Chojecki.
As the main argument in the religious dispute, the Prosecutor’s Office used the opinion of an expert in the field of religious studies – prof. Elżbieta Przybył-Sadowska, Director of the Institute of Religious Studies at the Jagiellonian University. The expert admitted that the statements of Pastor Chojecki fall within the norms of the Protestant-Catholic religious dispute, however, she found a crime in the form and style of the sermons and the pastor’s statements. However, in the field of language, prof. Przybył-Sadowska is not an expert. Therefore, the pastor’s defender asked for the appointment as a witness of authority in the field of linguistics.
The next hearing will be held on April 28, in the District Court in Lublin (IV Criminal Division).
For several years, there was much pseudo-dirt collected against him. Every minute of the live programs he participated in, including his sermons in his congregation, was vetted. A few sentences were taken out of context, and the Prosecutor’s Office accused him of offending the religious sensibilities of Catholics, insulting objects of Catholic religious worship, praising the initiation of a war of aggression against communist North Korea (sic!), and insulting the Polish nation and President of the Republic of Poland. The trial of Pastor Paweł Chojecki, editor-in-chief of Against The Tide TV, will take place on Wednesday, March 31.
The Prosecutor’s Office in unison with haters
The initiators of the notification to the Prosecutor Office about Pastor Paweł Chojecki are a group of haters. Based on the excerpts from his sermons and his appearances in journalistic programs, often taken out of context and misunderstood, Prosecutor’s Katarzyna Urban prepared an indictment. Surprisingly, the prosecutor’s office used haters’ materials, which included offensive and anti-Semitic titles added by the haters, such as carcass, shit, psychopastor chojecki, rabbi chojecki, Lublin cesspool.
Who are the authors of the denunciation to the Prosecutor’s Office? Two of them have heard criminal charges of threats against Pastor Chojecki, his family, and members of the New Covenant Church in Lublin, of which pastor Chojecki is the leader. They are also facing charges of attack on the headquarters of the church. Together and in concert, they conduct actions both in the real world (denunciations, disrupting meetings, throwing out leaflets, putting up posters, etc.) and on the Internet. The most active haters are Grzegorz W., Paweł B. and Radosław P.
He threw feces at the headquarters of pastor Chojecki’s Church. Now he is among the ‘aggrieved’
Paweł B. has already been accused by the Public Prosecutor’s Office of persecuting a policeman, who is a member of the New Covenant Church in Lublin. Under a court settlement, he has to apologize and pay the court fees.
It has already been three years that the prosecutor’s office in Nowy Sącz has been investigating the persecution of pastor Chojecki by Paweł B. who went to the local church headquarters and wrapped around the town with leaflets, in which he called for religious hatred towards the pastor and members of his church.
“Trees, poles, all the stops, mailboxes, the shop, their bunker, everything f*cking covered,” Paweł B. wrote later on Facebook. Together with his companions, he poured feces on the church headquarters, which he also boasted about on Facebook.
“Since I also felt like it, we ritually took a piss on the gate. Such a spiritual cleansing,” he wrote.
Paweł B. publishes vulgar and perverse entries on the Internet about the pastor, his family, members of the Against The Tide TV editorial office, and members of the New Covenant Church in Lublin, which are too much to even quote. He also disrupts meetings organized by the Church and television, distributing e.g. leaflets entitled “Zone free from sectarianism / Stop the destructive sect of Chojecki” with the logo of the Church and television crossed out (inspired by the “LGBT-free zone” leaflet).
Pastor’s haters disrupt meetings organized by the Church & TV, distributing e.g. leaflets: “Zone free from sectarianism / Stop the destructive sect of Chojecki” (inspired by the “LGBT-free zone” leaflet)
Grzegorz W. has also been defaming Pastor Chojecki and his environment for many years. Regarding Paweł Chojecki, he wrote, inter alia, “I think I’ll punch him in the teeth soon!”; “In Russia, it is said that mordyashka prosit kirpicha, what means: that kisser is asking for a brick!” (comments posted on YouTube). There are pending proceedings against Grzegorz W. He also published offensive entries against the children, daughter-in-law, or even grandson of Pastor Chojecki, calling the child “Antichrist”. Grzegorz W. also went to the pastor’s family’s house and he published a video about it on YouTube, making the exact address public as well. In the film called “Chopina Street – bunkers of the Paweł Ch.’s sect and sensational townhouses”, Grzegorz W. showed the place where members of New Covenant Church park their cars in Lublin. Two days later, on the hood of a car of one of the Church’s pastors, there was an inscription “F*ck SECTS”).
Pastor Paweł Chojecki and his message to Poles:
The prosecutor supported the anti-Semite lawsuit against the pastor
Additionally, the actions of at least some of the “aggrieved” parties stem from anti-Semitic attitudes. They often call pastor Chojecki a “rabbi”, which they find offensive. They also verbally attacked the citizen of Israel, Ivan Belostenko, a member of the New Covenant Church in Lublin, for his ethnicity. Paweł B. published a graphic entitled “Easter +prayer+ of the sectarian Ivan Belostenko” with the image of Mr. Belostenko and Israeli flags converted into SARS-CoV-2 viruses. He also wrote about Ivan Belostenko on his blog: “His task is also to promote Zionist narrative among his viewers through sectarian television.” Also, Paweł B. promoted on Facebook the graphic “Podhujaszczy Ivan Belostenko ps. Peyo, Jew”.
Another of them, Grzegorz W., was accused in 2015 of insulting the Jews. The court found him guilty but did not impose a penalty and conditionally discontinued the case. Grzegorz W. posts on YouTube such as: “Lecherous J e w Ivan went with Misses Choojszit and Marzena as a chaperone to Auschwitz.”
The hate campaign against Pastor Chojecki, his Church, and the Against the Tide TV has been conducted for years in some national, Catholic, and government media, where the Church is referred to as a “sect” (e.g. in Media Narodowe and TVP Info).
For over a year, the Prosecutor’s Office investigated Pastor Chojecki without informing him of the case against him. He heard the prosecutor’s charges just before Christmas on December 17, 2020.
The prosecutor violated the pastor’s right of defense?
According to the attorney Andrzej Turczyn, the defense counsel of Pastor Chojecki, Prosecutor Katarzyna Urban significantly violated the pastor’s right of defense by failing to indicate in the content of the allegation how the alleged crimes were committed. Attorney Turczyn stated that based on the content of the allegation it is not clear what exactly Pastor Paweł Chojecki is suspected of. Therefore, it is not known what the defense should be against. And this is clear deprivation of the right to defense in the preparatory proceedings. By parallel, the Prosecutor’s Office accused the pastor of stealing but did not say what, when, and from whom has been stolen. It is difficult to defend against such an accusation.
The Office of the Human Rights Defender intervened in the case. Dr. Adam Bodnar sent a letter requesting clarification of the case to Prosecutor Bartosz Frąk, supervising the District Prosecutor’s Office.
“The prosecutor’s office, headed by Zbigniew Ziobro, the Minister of Justice of the Law and Justice government, joined the attack of haters instead of defending the minority Church. The same Prosecutor’s Office has repeatedly refused to protect the New Covenant Church in Lublin against attacks by haters. (Last year we published the report DISCRIMINATION AND PERSECUTION OF EVANGELICAL CHRISTIANS IN POLAND on the example of the New Covenant Church in Lublin and Against the Tide TV. The document presents specific examples of persecution and discrimination of Protestant Christians, also by the government of the Republic of Poland, Polish services, and the judiciary. It shows, inter alia, a case of a car, belonging to a Christian from New Covenant Church in Lublin, burned down. The car was burned down next to a house, where a group of small children was staying. The report was sent to the Polish authorities, and also to the American Department of State). And now the prosecutor’s office has accepted the arguments of the hater,” comments Pastor Paweł Chojecki.
A car, belonging to a Christian from New Covenant Church in Lublin, burned down. The car was burned down next to a house, where a group of small children was staying.
It is worth mentioning that there has already been a scandal concerning hate towards the judges in the Ministry of Justice led by Ziobro. It was a so-called Piebiak scandal in which the undersecretary of state in the ministry inspired haters to attack judges.
Pastor accused of offending Catholic religious sensibilities
The prosecutor’s office appointed an expert in the field of religious studies, dr hab. Elżbieta Przybył-Sadowska. The expert did not find the guilt of pastor Chojecki in the substantive layer of his statements. But she did find him guilty on a linguistic basis. However, in the linguistic field, Dr. Przybył-Sadowska is not an expert.
Nevertheless, based on her opinion, the Prosecutor’s Office accused Pastor Chojecki of offending the religious sensibilities of Catholics by insulting objects of Catholic religious worship with the statement: “You eat the little Jesus, and He will stay in you for up to 15 minutes. If someone digests faster, for example, if the priest has drunk wine, the digestion is faster, and Jesus lives in a priest for 5 minutes. As for a poor man who only drinks water, his gastric juices dilute it a little, and Jesus stays for 15 minutes”.
“Honestly speaking, I do not know which object of religious worship is offended here and which words are an insult in this description. It is a humorous paraphrase of a fragment of an article from the Catholic portal Deon.pl: ‘So we can say that after consuming Holy Communion, this physical presence of Jesus lasts from 10 to 15 minutes in our bodies because this is how long the process of digesting takes more or less,'” – says Pastor Chojecki.
In the prosecutor’s indictment, there is also a charge of insulting the object of religious worship in the pastor’s statement about transubstantiation, i.e. the Catholic teaching about the transformation of a host into Jesus during the mass.
“It is an ironic demonstration of the nonsense of the dogma of transubstantiation, according to which, and here I am quoting the Catholic portal Deon.pl, ‘moreover, even the smallest piece of the host or a drop of wine contains all Christ.’ It is incomprehensible to me that the prosecutor’s office of the secular state deals with the inter-church polemic on the dogma of transubstantiation, unequivocally standing on the side of the Catholic religion as if the Republic of Poland was a Catholic religious state,” comments Pastor Chojecki.
“In my deepest conviction, I did not commit a crime in any of these statements, nor did I go beyond the historically established polemic between Catholicism and Protestantism. Neither did I go beyond the modern framework of public debate, nor did I intend to offend anyone,” adds the pastor.
It must be admitted that, indeed, interreligious polemics are often sharp. Martin Luther once said about the Catholic mass, the essence of which is transubstantiation: “the mass is in the papacy the greatest and most horrible abomination (…), and at the same time it has become the greatest and most magnificent of them before all other papal idolatries! (…). Besides, this dragon’s tail (and I mean the mass) gave birth to all sorts of abominations and idolatry.”
“By not allowing me to proclaim this type of views in my Church or publish them in the public space, the Prosecutor attempted my freedom to profess and proclaim religious views. Therefore, I feel discriminated against because of my religion,” adds Pastor Chojecki.
Pastor accused of insulting the Polish president
The prosecutor’s office accused Pastor Chojecki of insulting the Polish President, Andrzej Duda. He was to do so, naming President Duda, inter alia, ‘coward’, ‘ram’, ‘jerk’, ‘traitor’ or ‘sleepy agent’.
We asked Pastor Chojecki how he explains the use of such words.
“I used these terms in various contexts. I never intended to offend President Duda. I only commented on his political activities. Some of these terms refer to the way he presented his candidacy to Poles in the 2015 presidential campaign in the context of his subsequent political activities. In my opinion, an attempt to criminalize such journalistic assessments is unacceptable in a democratic state ruled by law. I use strict terms to provoke Poles to think about what they hear from politicians and not to accept their smooth words thoughtlessly,” explains Pastor Chojecki.
“I was very much involved in Andrzej Duda’s election campaign in 2015, supporting him, calling for voting for him, and hoping for a good change in Poland. Unfortunately, President Duda did not keep his promises and denied some of the values he preached. Despite the indignation that I expressed in my public activities, I was able to praise him for what he did well, and in the 2020 elections, I did not stand against him, but declared neutrality and did not go to the elections. At the same time, my guests to Against The Tide TV called for voting for Andrzej Duda, which shows that the aim of my journalistic activity is not to insult the president, but only to ensure that he performs his office with dignity – in faithfulness towards Poland, civil liberties and Christian values,” comments Pastor Chojecki.
A mind-boggling charge against the pastor: praising the waging war of aggression against North Korea
“The most bizarre accusation against me is the accusation of ‘praising the initiation and conduct of a war of aggression against North Korea,'” comments Pastor Chojecki. Indeed, the prosecutor’s indictment also includes such an allegation.
“I assume the prosecutor does not know that the Western world has been at war with communist North Korea since 1950,” adds the pastor.
“I suspect that the accusations may be related to my anti-communist activity, which does not appeal to some governmental circles cooperating with, for example, communist China”, says the editor-in-chief of Against the Tide TV.
‘Freedom of religion and freedom of speech are the pillars of a democratic state’
“Everything that I am accused of is connected with my activity as a clergyman – pastor of the New Covenant Church in Lublin and a journalist and publicist of the online TV Against The Tide. Both of these types of activities are called a mission in a democratic system, and therefore, they are subject to special protection as pillars of a democratic state. They include freedom to practice and profess a religion, to express one’s religious views, and freedom of speech in public debate. These values are also subject to special protection of the Constitution of the Republic of Poland, European Union law, and international law,” explains Pastor Chojecki.
“The fact that I am accused is another proof that Poland is moving at a dangerous rate towards a Catholic-National-Socialist dictatorship in which criticism of the ruling power or religion is stifled by administrative methods. I consider the impeachment of a Christian pastor for words spoken out of love for God and Poland as a personal insult and a violation of the divine and human rights of the Polish state. (“It is also not good to fine the righteous, Nor to strike the noble for their uprightness.” Proverbs 17:26)”, he adds.
“In my opinion, the indictment against me is related to my criticism, exposing the errors and crimes of the Roman Catholic Church in Poland, which, as you can see, still has a privileged position in Poland, and it is related to our journalistic activities, where we criticize the ruling coalition. Our television covers inconvenient topics, and some of our programs have gained great popularity on the web, reaching over 100,000 views,” summarizes pastor Chojecki.
Are laws about insulting the President and offending religious sensibilities a trap for the rebellious?
It is more and more common to hear voices saying that art. 135 of the Criminal Code, that is, insulting the head of state, is used to silence political opponents or inconvenient journalists. So is art. 196 of CC, about the so-called offending religious feelings.
Recently, the public all over the world has learned about what is happening in Poland when it comes to prosecuting ex officio persons inconvenient for the authorities and the Catholic Church – on the examples of a Polish musician, Nergal, and a writer, Jakub Żulczyk.
The musician was convicted by a Warsaw court (without a trial and hearing of the accused) for offending the religious sensibilities of Catholics by insulting the image of Mary. The writer and screenwriter Jakub Żulczyk was accused by the Prosecutor’s Office and will stand trial for insulting the President of the Republic of Poland, Andrzej Duda, for calling him a “moron”.
Many Poles support both the musician and the writer. The campaign to support Żulczyk quickly gained great popularity, particularly in social media. Internet users continue to share hashtag #DudaJestDebilem (meaning Duda is a moron), which at one point was the most popular hashtag on Polish Twitter. They also asked whether the prosecution will now accuse all Poles. ‘You will not sue us all!’ they wrote.
Pastor Chojecki is accused based on both of these laws.
Many lawyers from Lublin, initially interested, eventually refused to represent the pastor. A well-known lawyer from Warsaw, who got acquainted with the case, said without hesitation that someone in charge seriously wants to silence Pastor Chojecki – both for criticizing the authorities and for criticizing the Catholic Church.
The question of whether the Polish prosecutor’s office and courts should deal with religious disputes between one denomination and another remains open. And where, in all of this, are human rights, that is, freedom of expression and religious freedom?
Li Zhihui, a Falun Gong activist, persecuted by communists, the extradition of whom communist China demanded, has left detention today. The Court of Appeal in Warsaw decided that Mr. Li’s extradition to China was unacceptable and released him from the Warsaw-Białołęka detention center.
The information was provided to the Against The Tide TV, as the first medium in Poland, by Mr. Li’s defender, attorney Krzysztof Kitajgordzki.
I cannot believe that this ordeal of my client, which lasted two years, has just ended, lawyer Kitajgrodzki told in Against The Tide TV.
After the release from detention, Li Zhihui is to stay in a rented apartment in Poland. His legal situation in Sweden is to be investigated.
In my opinion, for the time being, Mr. Li is safe only in the territory of the Republic of Poland, said the activist’s lawyer.
Li was arrested almost two years ago at Chopin Airport and has been in custody since then. The case of his possible handover to communist China was brought to the Supreme Court. The Ombudsman was involved in the process.
The prosecutors changed their opinion on the activist several times, finally arguing in the Supreme Court against extraditing Mr. Li to communist China.
In January, the Supreme Court granted the cassation of the extradition judgment. He referred the case to the Court of Appeal for reconsideration
The businessman, who has lived in Sweden since 2012, actively supports the Falun Gong movement which was fought by the Chinese communists. The official allegation against him is that money has been illegally withdrawn from China. Formally, he is even threatened with life imprisonment.
However, Zhihui Li argues that the accusations are unfounded and cover the real goals of the Chinese government, namely, the persecution for involvement with the Falun Gong movement.
Li claims that if he were to be handed over to communist China, he would be at risk of torture and death.
Li’s lawyer revealed in January on Against The Tide TV that his client had been placed in the same cell with a man suspected of espionage, former Huawei manager Wang Weijing. However, unlike Wang, Li was not allowed to contact the media.
Mr. Li did not get permission to contact journalists, while the Chinese [manager of Huawei Polska – ed.] accused of espionage within the 5G teleinformation system was allowed to publish his political manifestos via the Polish media. This shows that Poland has a clear bias towards communism, then commented Pastor Paweł Chojecki on Against The Tide TV.
The case of Zhihui Li was reported in Poland by Against The Tide TV and TVN. Attorney Kitajgrodzki emphasized in Against The Tide TV that the role of the media was crucial in this case.
I believe that the role of the media was very, very important. As far as I know, your materials have made their way all over the world. I know the “Financial Times” wrote a big article. I know it went through Canada, the United States, Great Britain. This issue was watched very closely in Taiwan, thanks to your program, the lawyer said.
You played a very important role in achieving justice, he added.
Krzysztof Kitajgrodzki also praised the attitude of the prosecutor Anna Adamiak.
The regional prosecutor appeared at the hearing. Last year, she was the only representative of the prosecutor’s office to oppose the extradition of Mr. Zhihui Li to the Chinese authorities. […] As far as I know, she is a person who knows international politics very well, the realities of different countries. She is an expert in the field. Her position was in line with the defense and it made the whole situation easier for my client. I am grateful for this, because, unfortunately, the prosecutor’s office was absolutely against it earlier. It was absolutely disadvantageous [for my client – ed.]. The greater is my appreciation for the prosecutor who took a position not only compliant with the principles of the rule of law and order but also consistent with a conscience. If the prosecutor’s office acted like that in every case, I think that our country would be much better, said Kotajgrodzki.
The lawyer also spoke about how Mr. Li endured the two-year detention when he was facing the threat of being sent back to communist China, where he would probably face torture and death.
I had the opportunity to talk to some of the people who were in one cell with Mr. Li, and they all emphasized that Mr. Li prayed a lot. He did pray a lot during these two years. I think that it was the only reason why he survived, Mr. Kitajgrodzki said.
– Christianity in itself is still a very important pillar for the morality of the European people. So if the European people do not totally give up this very ancient stable and powerful tradition, then I think most of them will find out that they have more in common with Americans when it comes to universal values than with communist China” – says Manyan Ng, CEO and Board Member of Epoch Times Europe in an interview for Against the Tide TV, about the future of Europe’s relationships with China and the USA.
The EU recently signed an economic agreement with China, despite a request from the US for consultations. “I understand that this negotiation has been going on for seven years. In the past seven years, there were many issues. Like human rights issues, no use of labor camps for the products sold to Europe, and that’s the kind of obstacle [they had] for signing it.
And now suddenly Xi Jinping made a show publically by saying ‘no products will be produced in labor camps’. For me, how much does a Chinese promise worth from a communist party boss? It’s worthless. They have promised for 50 years to never change the system in Hong Kong and it has changed now.
Angela Merkel should be aware of that and still, she chose to go ahead. So there must be some other interest than the normal economic interest, I guess.” – says Ng. Some say it’s due to her communist youth ties, he added.
Poland was represented by President Andrzej Duda, during the recent virtual 17+1 summit of the CCP. This is a typical mistake according to Ng. “There is a fundamental mistake done by many European countries and Poland is not alone in this. They are still doing this mistake.
We have a China policy or strategy, that is based on economic interest and not based on universal values. We should consider both. Of course, the economy is still important but we can never have a purely economic interest in China’s policy because then you would fall into the trap of the Chinese Communist Party.
@3!?%! the world has gone mad! Riots, disasters, China threatening the world with war, conspiracy theories, Freemasons and fu*k knows what else. How am I supposed to figure this whole shit out? And where the fu*k is God? The Catholic Church is collapsing. Cardinals are pedophiles. Welcome to The Time of Apocalypse. Artwork by Andrzej Patalon.
The story takes place during the time of the Apocalypse. Our hero is witnessing forced microchipping of people, total control and terror by the government, where the antichrist – a global political leader – heads the new world order. Eventually, the hero is captured…
The Polish Supreme Court granted an annulment of the extradition of Zhihui Li to communist China. It means that Polish authorities will not extradite Mr. Li to China, at least for the time being. However, this is not the end of the fight – the court of appeal will review the case again.
The businessman, who has lived in Sweden since 2012, actively supported the Falun Gong, a movement fiercely persecuted by the Chinese communists. Official China’s allegation against Mr. Li is an illegal withdrawal of money from the country. However, Zhihui Li claims that the accusations are unfounded. In his opinion they are rather a cover-up for the real goals of the Chinese government, namely, persecuting him for supporting the Falun Gong movement.
During the announcement of the verdict on Friday, the Supreme Court said that China’s request for extradition could not be granted until a dialogue with China on the situation of Zhihui Li, should he go to China, be expanded.
Michał Hara, the head of the Legislative and Systemic Affairs Department at the Human Rights Commissioner’s Office, commented on the verdict on our TV.
– The Supreme Court upheld the cassation appeal of the Commissioner for Human Rights and revoked the decision allowing the extradition of the accused to China and remitted the case to the court of the second instance, i.e. the Court of Appeal in Warsaw.
Asked by Eunika Chojecka whether Zhihui Li is finally safe and will not be handed over by Poland to communist China, attorney Hara replied, “It depends; now, the Court of Appeal in Warsaw will review the case. The judge may potentially decide that considering the instructions made by the Supreme Court, it will issue a decision on the admissibility of extradition again.
The Commissioner for Human Rights, who filed the cassation appeal, noted that before issuing the extradition decision the lower court had not made sure that Mr. Li’s human rights would be respected in China. Mr. Li is formally threatened with life imprisonment there, and the Chinese side has not provided any convincing information about the possibility of reducing the sentence.
Zhihui Li is certain that, should he be handed over to Communist China, he will face the death penalty.
Zhihui Li’s defender, attorney Krzysztof Kitajgrodzki, announced on our TV that his client might only be released from custody in a few months at the earliest, “At the moment, the decision on the temporary arrest of Zhihui Li is in force until March 17 this year. (…) Pre-trial detention in Poland is quite a disgrace and abusing it is evident! It is difficult for me to tell the exact scale, but I think that almost half of the cases heard [by courts] do not require a pre-trial detention at all, my client’s case in particular. After March 17, the court […] will have to decide whether the detention is extended or not – […] if a further extension is decided, it will be an obvious abuse, because the detention will last more than two years!” said the lawyer.
The trial court approved of Li’s extradition last year. The Court of Appeal canceled the judgment and recalled the case to the District Court where the decision was made again to hand Mr. Li over to the Chinese authorities.
We informed about the activist’s case at the beginning of January. On January 5, we talked to Mr. Li’s attorney, Krzysztof Kitajgrodzki, on our live program. Mr. Kitajgrodzki said that if his client ended up in communist China, he would face not only imprisonment but also torture and possibly death.
“If Poland hands me over to China, I will die”, said the activist in an interview with TVN.
The Polish services arrested the man in 2019 and the activist has been in custody since then. At that time, Mr. Kitajgrodzki revealed on our television that his client was kept in one cell with the suspected of espionage former director of Huawei Weijing Wang.
The prosecutor’s office has changed its opinion on the Falun Gong activist several times, eventually arguing in the Supreme Court against extraditing Mr. Li to China.
However, this is not the end of the activist’s case. The case will now be reviewed by the Court of Appeal in Warsaw.
The editor-in-chief of Against the Tide TV, Pastor Paweł Chojecki, asked Michał Hara from the Office of the Human Rights Commissioner whether the conduct of communist China and the Polish judiciary in the case of a Swedish citizen means that every inhabitant of Europe is in danger. “First of all, it should be noted that the fact that someone is a Polish or EU citizen does not automatically protect them against extradition to a third country. (…) In 2017, the Court of Justice of the EU issued a ruling in which it speaks exactly of this situation: if we have an EU citizen who is wanted by a country outside the EU and is detained in another EU country, then another EU country must first ask the first country whether it would not like to pursue this man and if the former state resigns, only then can a man be deported to a third country. In the case of Mr. Li, the Swedish authorities stated that they had waived the prosecution of the accused of these crimes and that was why it was possible to issue a decision on the admissibility of his extradition [by Polish courts – ed. ed.], explained attorney Hara.
I can imagine you are shocked by what America has turned into that last year. As a great friend of yours who has often used America as an example for the whole world, let me tell you how your situation looks from the outside.
In my sermons, I often asked why the American Constitution is so short. The answer to that question is fundamental to understanding what is happening today. Your Constitution does not stand on its own but is inextricably based on the Bible. It is only together that they served as a signpost for your ancestors.
The American Constitution can only function properly in a Christian society. In other words, America’s prosperity and power and justice grew when there was a good number of men and women in your Nation who personally trusted in the redemption Jesus Christ brought to us through His blood, shed on the Cross of Golgotha, and who lived a life devoted to Him.
In 2016, after Donald Trump’s victory, I asked the question: “A NEW ERA OF THE CHURCH OR THE HOME STRETCH?” After visiting your wonderful country and many biblical churches in 2018, I returned with very sad thoughts. I then delivered four sermons for you. The series was entitled “How to drive the Communists out of churches?”
I would very much like to see American patriots finally learning the truth that this great crisis that we are facing today is not due to the power of communists and globalists but to the weaknesses of American Christians and churches. The belief that America will always be Christian and never be socialist proved that Americans placed their hope in man and not in Almighty God.
The world is not over yet. Jesus wants all of His disciples to draw the right conclusions from the tragedy that has occurred over the recent months. Do not be fooled by those who call for an escalation of violence, secession, or purely political solutions. America was a City on the Hill for one reason only: “In God We Trust”!
Now, there is a simple way for you to change the fate of your homeland and thus, of the whole world. American Christians must return to their deep devotion to Jesus Christ and reject the worldly way of life described in the letter to the Church in Laodicea in Revelation 3:14–22. You must once again reach for the profound wisdom of the Word of God. Pray for your eyes to be opened to it. Kindle afresh the enthusiasm for the evangelization of your countrymen and the whole world. You need churches that are strong in Christ, so focus on godly pastors who reject the deceptive theology of success. After all, it was the representatives of this kind of theology who tried to deceive you with a vision, supposedly revealed to them from heaven, that Trump would triumph in the 2020 election.
Christ’s Church is strong only when it consists of Jesus’ humble disciples, who recognize their weakness and who are great by His strength and His power. This is the simple key to rebuilding and winning! It is going to be a long and difficult road, but it is the only one you can take.
As Polish evangelical Christians, we will pray for you, provide support, and strive to be an encouragement and inspiration to you.
Remember, it is not a battle for America only. It is a war for the whole world.
“My client has been in one cell for two years with a Chinese man linked to Huawei, suspected of spying for communist China”, says Krzysztof Kitajgrodzki Zhihui Li‘s lawyer, extradition of whom China demands from Poland. “If Poland hands me over to China, I will die”, Li wrote. The District and Appellate Courts in Warsaw said the extradition of Mr. Li is possible, but his lawyer turned to the Ombudsman, who appealed to the Supreme Court. The case is due to be heard by the Supreme Court on the 15th of January. But the final decision on the fate of Zhihui Li will be made by Justice Minister Zbigniew Ziobro.
Officially, communist China accuses Zhihui Li of an economic crime, for which he can be formally sentenced with up to life imprisonment. However, Li argues that these accusations are unfounded and they are to cover the real purposes of the Chinese government, namely the persecution of the Falun Gong movement with which Li is associated. Both he and his defender are convinced that because of his involvement in the Falun Gong movement and the rejection of the Communist Party, Li will be facing a death sentence in China. Li was detained almost two years ago at Chopin Airport and has been in custody ever since.
A spokeswoman for the Ministry of Justice, Agnieszka Borowska, responded to our questions and said that the ministry is closely monitoring the case. “For us, the priority is to protect human rights, but at this point, we do not comment on the issues that the court is dealing with”, the spokesperson said.
She added that it was clear that the District Court was aware of the arguments about the defendant’s relationship with Falun Gong, but did not consider them credible, stating that the accused was using them only to avoid extradition.
“The topic does not get accepted by editorial colleges”
The case of Zhihua Li’s extradition was addressed by TVN journalist Bartosz Żurawicz. However, other Polish media are silent, even though they have obtained information about the case.
A defense attorney Krzysztof Kitajgrodzki admitted on Against The Tide TV that he had notified the Polish media about the case, but “when they learned that this was about China, the topic did not get accepted by the editorial colleges”. Mr. Kitajgrodzki could not reveal which media had ignored Mr. Li’s case. He explained that his client did not authorize him to do so. “You are brave, TVN is brave, I will not judge the rest,” he said.
The Embassy of Sweden, of which Li is a national, also intervened in the Zhihui Li case.
In one cell with accused of spying for China
KrzysztofKitajgrodzki also revealed a shocking fact. He said that his client has been in one cell for two years with a Chinese man affiliated with Huawei, suspected of spying for communist China!
It is about former Huawei Poland director Weijing Wang.
Mr. Kitajgrodzki added that Mr. Li had not received permission from the Polish justice system to hold a teleconference with journalists.
“It is a shame of the Polish State, it is a scandal! It’s a crying shame, it shows that there is no rule of law and justice in Poland”, said the editor-in-chief of Against The Tide TV, Pastor Paweł Chojecki. “While Mr. Li was not allowed to contact journalists, the Chinese [director of Huawei Polska], accused of spying on the 5G information system, could publish his political manifestos in the Polish media. This clearly shows that Poland has communist tendencies”, he said.
Ed. Hanna Shen, correspondent of Against The Tide TV in Taiwan, described a practice that is often used by the Chinese authorities. If a country refuses to hand over a prisoner, China threatens to weaken the economic relationship between the two countries.
“Two years ago, Poland was requested to hand over 48 detained Chinese and Taiwanese nationals to China, but Poland did the right thing and did not give in to the Chinese pressure. And there was no deterioration of Polish-Chinese economic relations” – she explained.
Krzysztof Kitajgrodzki also confirmed that the extradition of a particular person should not matter in the economic relations of the two countries. “I have examined the issue of handing over the Chinese citizens by Poland to China, and there has been no such case in the last 20 years! (…) I hope that financial issues will not determine the decisions concerning human life, since it would demonstrate the level of civilization Polish”, added Mr. Li’s lawyer.
An appeal to minister Ziobro
Attorney Kitajgrodzki was speaking in Against The Tide TV on the chances of declaring his client not guilty. – I think that the rules of criminal proceedings are so clear in Poland that only one decision is possible. But this is a matter of Mr. Ziobro’s conscience. I have asked the National Prosecutor’s Office and the Ministry of Justice if either of the bodies is monitoring what happens to the people handed over to China. The answer was – absolutely not. Thus, from the point of view of the minister, sending Zhihua Li to certain death is very likely, he said.
The fact that the ministry of Justice Minister Zbigniew Ziobro is calling for an easing of the regulations limiting the construction of 5G networks in Poland by the Chinese communist company Huawei does not help Zhihui Li’s situation. “This is very worrying. I appeal to Minister Ziobro: do the right thing and let Zhihui Li return from Poland to Sweden. I hope that international attention to this issue will help the Minister of Justice make the decision not to extradite Mr. Li”, said Hanna Shen, Against the Tide TV’s correspondent in Taiwan.
Another Chinese man commits suicide waiting for extradition
We also talked to attorney Kitajgrodzki about his client’s health. “Mr. Li recently recovered from severe pneumonia. (…) For the past two years, he had had no contact with the outside world and he only talked to us. Let’s put ourselves in his shoes: we are in a foreign country, arrested during a trip, we do not know about any issues with the Chinese prosecutor’s office and we are waiting for a decision [about our fate]. I can only add that at the same time another Chinese man was waiting for the decision to be extradited, but for fear of being handed over to China, he committed suicide. When we were in the visiting room, through the window we saw a man being carried out in a body bag. Later, we learned that it was that Chinese man. (…) It makes it easier for us to imagine what kind of stress Mr. Li is in”, he said.
The life of Zhihui Li is in minister Ziobro’s hands
“The District and Appellate Courts in Warsaw issued a decision on the legal admissibility of Mr. Li’s extradition. After that, I asked the Ombudsman to challenge those decisions immediately. The request for cassation has been accepted. It will be heard on 15 January at a hearing before the Supreme Court. After the Decision of the Supreme Court of 15 January, the case will be transferred to the Ministry of Justice and the final decision will be taken by Mr. Zbigniew Ziobro”, Kitajgrodzki said.
Zhihui Li, 53, can be sent back to communist China according to a Polish court ruling, where he is likely to face the death penalty. The activist, who has lived in Sweden since 2012, is associated with the Falun Gong, a movement persecuted by the CCP.
Zhihui Li was born in China but has had Swedish citizenship since 2016 according to TVN. In 2014, the Chinese communist authorities opened an investigation into his case and sent an international watch letter.
The official complaint that the Chinese side presented against Li is the illegal outflow of money from China by the actions of Li’s company. Li claims, however, that the accusations are unfounded and are a cover for the real purposes of the Chinese government, namely the persecution of the Falun Gong movement, with which he is associated.
The movement is mainly about meditation, and yet since the late 1990s, it has been persecuted in communist China and considered a sect. Until a few years earlier, it had been promoted by the authorities, but as a result of its rapidly growing popularity, it was considered a threat to the ruling regime.
Zhihui Li joined the movement almost a decade ago and actively supports its activities. Previously, as a high-ranking Chinese entrepreneur, he was a youth member of the Communist Party of China. Now he believes that the party is chasing him because he decided to sever contacts with the CCP in favor of joining Falun Gong.
‘If Poland sends me to China, I will die,’ the activist said in an interview for TVN.
To add an insult to the injury, Li shares a cell with the communist Chinese spy that was captured in Poland two years ago and is accused of spying for the CCP. The spy still hasn’t been sentenced.
In Poland, a court of the first instance gave permission to hand over the activist to China. The court of appeal reversed the verdict, and the case was sent back to the district court. There, again, the decision was made to hand the man over to the Chinese authorities.
The Swedish side stood up for the activist. The Swedish Embassy sent a letter to the Polish Ministry of Justice which states that ‘there is a high risk that our citizen, once issued to the Chinese side, may be sentenced to death.’
‘The People’s Republic of China does not meet the criteria of the rule of law. The judiciary there is under communist party control and is therefore not independent.’
Now the decision is to be made by the Minister of Justice, who is the head of the Polish public prosecutor’s office.
