Polish police have detained former justice minister Zbigniew Żobro for refusing to testify before an investigation committee, DPA reported, BTA reported.
The hardline politician from the previous government, led by the national-conservative Law and Justice (PiS) party, was taken into custody after giving a live television interview. Żobro was detained immediately after leaving the studio of TV Republika.
The 54-year-old former minister has refused to appear before the parliamentary investigation committee for the third time, which in turn has asked the prosecutor's office to arrest Żobro for 30 days. He wrote on the social network "Ex" that he considered the commission illegitimate.
The parliamentary commission was formed by the center-left government of Prime Minister Donald Tusk with the task of establishing whether the PiS cabinet, which ruled Poland from 2015 to 2023, used the Israeli spyware "Pegasus" to monitor political opponents. Last spring, the Prosecutor General's Office said that between 2017 and 2023, 578 people were spied on with "Pegasus".
Journalists, human rights organizations and forensic experts first reported on the Israeli software in July 2021. "Pegasus" exploits vulnerabilities in smartphone security to gain broad access to data and can also be used to eavesdrop on conversations.