A former local official of Prime Minister Donald Tusk’s governing Civic Platform (PO) is back at the center of a growing political scandal after an appeals court threw out his 11-year prison sentence in a child abuse case involving 14 girls, sending the matter back for a new trial and reviving questions over how he remained in party leadership for so long.
Piotr P., the former head of PO’s district branch in Złotów in Greater Poland, had previously been convicted on 21 counts linked to sexual offenses against minors and the recording of nude images of children without parental knowledge or consent. Prosecutors said more than a dozen girls were harmed.
According to investigators, the abuse took place between 2021 and 2023, with Piotr P. allegedly meeting girls and telling them to undress, touching them, and photographing them while claiming the images were part of medical documentation.
The case was brought after the mother of one of the alleged victims contacted authorities. Piotr P. was arrested on Dec. 1, 2023, and was later convicted by the District Court in Złotów, which sentenced him in March 2025 to 11 years in prison. That ruling, however, was later overturned in January of this year, and the proceedings are now set to resume. Piotr P. continues to deny the charges.
Critics say the most disturbing aspect of the affair is not only the scale of the allegations, but the fact that Piotr P. remained a prominent Civic Platform figure for years, despite what opponents claim were longstanding rumors and earlier accusations.
The case has since become a political weapon in Poland’s wider media and party war, with right-leaning outlets portraying it as proof that Civic Platform tolerated a well-known local figure despite repeated warning signs. The same outlets have also seized on the reversal of the original conviction as evidence of an overtly political justice system. TVRepublika, for example, claimed that the conviction was overturned because the ruling judge had been newly appointed and was not recognized by the new Tusk government.
Reporting cited by wPolityce alleges that complaints involving Piotr P. dated back as far as 2011, with further allegations emerging around 2015 and 2016 involving underage trainees. Although the matter was reportedly brought to police and prosecutors, the case was allegedly dropped at an early stage.
That history has fueled accusations that Piotr P. benefited from political protection while continuing to hold influence locally. According to critics, he remained in charge of the party’s Złotów structures from 2014 onward, helped organize campaigns, shaped election lists, and regularly appeared alongside local officials and senior party figures.
He was only suspended and later expelled from Civic Platform after his 2023 arrest, a fact now being used by opponents to argue that the party acted only when the scandal became impossible to ignore.
Other reports from left-wing media, however, have said the sentence was overturned because of procedural problems rather than politics. That dispute has only intensified the public fight around the case, with rival camps offering sharply different explanations for why the conviction did not stand.
What is not in dispute, however, is the scale of the alleged abuse described by prosecutors. The case involves 14 alleged victims and numerous counts of sexual offenses.
For Civic Platform, the damage is not limited to one former local activist. The retrial is again focusing attention on whether party officials ignored or downplayed claims surrounding a man who remained politically active for years, ran repeatedly for mayor of Jastrowie, and built influence through both party and community roles.
As wPolsce24 wrote, “This is a dark period for the Polish justice system and further proof that in the world of Civic Platform politicians, partisan interests and the struggle for influence in the courts matter more than the fate of abused children.”
A report shining a light on new information surrounding the scandal is due to be broadcast by wPolsce24 on Monday.
