Father Michał Olszewski, head of the Profeto Foundation, has described harrowing conditions during his detention at the Warsaw-Służewiec jail, alleging serious abuse, including denial of water and restroom access, and degrading treatment. His attorney, Krzysztof Wąsowski, has announced plans to seek intervention from both the Polish commissioner for human rights and international organizations.
Father Olszewski, who was arrested in late March amidst allegations involving the Justice Fund scandal, conveyed his experiences in a private letter that has now been made public by Sieci weekly and daily Gazeta Polska. According to the letter, his handcuffs were not removed even during moments of duress, leading to severe personal indignities. The priest describes being offered a half bottle of tap water and being told to urinate in a bottle in his cell. Additionally, he faced constant surveillance and was awakened hourly by lights throughout his first two weeks in custody.
“It turned out that I was under ‘special surveillance.’ Hence, the camera and handcuffs, even during walks, isolation from others […], being woken up by lights every hour throughout the night! That was the situation for the first two weeks,” the priest describes.
Attorney Krzysztof Wąsowski is calling it “a scandal on at least a European scale.” Media reports have fueled public and legal scrutiny, citing a systemic return to torturous practices in Poland, which violate both national and international law against cruel and dehumanizing treatment.
Practices such as denying water and toilet access have been classified as torture and degrading treatment under international conventions. According to the 1984 UN Convention against Torture, the term “torture” means “any act by which severe pain or suffering, whether physical or mental, is intentionally inflicted on a person for such purposes as obtaining from him or a third person information or a confession, punishing him for an act he or a third person has committed.” Article 40 of the Polish constitution states: “No one shall be subjected to torture or cruel, inhuman, or degrading treatment or punishment. The use of corporal punishment is prohibited.”
The district court in Warsaw recently extended Father Olszewski’s detention by another three months, despite objections from his legal team about procedural mishandling and alleged bias in the judiciary. In response, Wąsowski has criticized the court’s decision, arguing that it reflects a lack of engagement with the full material facts of the case and indicating a potentially prejudiced stance against his client.
The Justice Fund scandal, in which Father Olszewski is a suspect, involves allegations by prosecutors that €66 million in a special fund may have been misused under the former conservative justice minister, Zbigniew Ziobro.
