THEATRE OF APPEARANCES OR A REAL RECKONING? THE UNSPARING DIAGNOSIS OF PROF. JACEK IZYDORCZYK
FROM THE EDITOR-IN-CHIEF | COMMENT OF THE DAY
THEATRE OF APPEARANCES OR A REAL RECKONING? THE UNSPARING DIAGNOSIS OF PROF. JACEK IZYDORCZYK
Date: 11 September 2026 | Author: Mieczysław Dzikowski – Editor-in-Chief of GAZETA ALGOOMNI
A wave of reports on the Zondacrypto affair is sweeping through public debate, presented by the media and politicians as the supposed “beginning of the end” of Law and Justice, in the manner of the old Rywin affair for the SLD. As Editor-in-Chief of Gazeta ALGOOMNI, however, I cannot pass indifferently by the fundamental, uncompromising conversation that journalist Tomasz Pichór conducted on Jan Piński's channel with an eminent lawyer, criminal law specialist and former diplomat – Prof. Jacek Izydorczyk.
The Professor delivered a brutally accurate diagnosis of the state of the Polish state, exposing the fiction of so-called “reckonings”, the deficiency of media spectacles and the systemic impotence of the current political class. Below I present a detailed, systematic summary of all the key legal and political theses and conclusions from this conversation:
1. Zondacrypto, media “froth-whipping” and sham actions
Asked whether Zondacrypto will sink PiS, Prof. Izydorczyk cools emotions: in political history we have had the Rywin affair and the tapes affair (“the baby octopuses”), but what becomes a political breakthrough depends on how the issue is handled and what resonates in society. In the Professor's assessment, the Zondacrypto case – even though the crimes and any recordings should be prosecuted without exception – bears the hallmarks of sham actions and “froth-whipping”, intended to occupy public attention with a substitute spectacle instead of a hard reckoning with the most serious cases.
2. The myth of “protracted procedures”: the examples of South Korea and Austria
The Professor (with 30 years of experience in the scholarship and practice of criminal procedure) categorically refutes the current government's claims that perpetrators from the circles of power cannot be tried quickly because of complicated court and prosecutorial procedures. That is a lie.
The example of South Korea: After the failed coup of December 2024, the highest officials and the former president went through investigations and first- and second-instance trials within a few months to a year, and are serving sentences of life imprisonment, 30 and 7 years (for the former president the prosecutor sought the death penalty). In Poland, since the autumn of 2023, politicians burdened by hard evidence are still shining at liberty.
The Josef Fritzl case in Austria: The trial for monstrous, multi-strand crimes lasted a mere 4 days (from Monday to Thursday). When the justice system wants to act, procedures do not stand in the way.
3. The principle of legality and impunity in clear-cut cases
Poland operates the principle of legality, which obliges the prosecution service to prosecute every publicly prosecuted offence ex officio. We are dealing with many plainly clear-cut cases (such as the case of the prosecutor keeping files in his garage), where the preparatory proceedings should be closed within a month, and the indictment and verdict delivered within three months at most. Instead, cases are suspended or swept under the carpet.
4. A quarter of a million “excess deaths” – a conspiracy of silence and a systemic crime
In Prof. Izydorczyk's assessment, the greatest and most hushed-up tragedy of PiS rule is the 250,000 excess deaths of Poles during the restrictions and the paralysis of healthcare under the pretext of COVID-19 (a death toll comparable to the losses in the Warsaw Uprising). People died and are still dying because of the lack of early oncological and cardiological diagnosis. A cross-party conspiracy of silence surrounds this tragedy, because the then opposition (now in government) was at the time demanding even more drastic restrictions and lockdowns. This matter borders on a crime against the nation, for which specific individuals in the decision-making chain should bear criminal responsibility.
5. Changing the constitutional order without changing the Constitution is a coup d'état
The second gravest charge is the crime of a coup d'état. The Professor recalled Jarosław Kaczyński's public declarations of 2023 that “they had changed the system”. Under Polish law, changing the constitutional order of the state by bypassing the procedure for amending the Constitution of the Republic of Poland fulfils the elements of a coup d'état – the gravest crime, punishable by life imprisonment. The failure to prosecute these acts is proof of the state's abdication.
6. The political class's vulnerability to blackmail: Collegium Humanum and “the case of the stolen frying pan”
The Professor drew attention to the terrifying level of vulnerability of the Polish political scene to “hooks” (kompromat) and to being steered by the special services:
Collegium Humanum: The scandal of fake master's and MBA diplomas was no accident – it bears the hallmarks of an operation to fabricate kompromat on politicians of various persuasions, who needed a “piece of paper” at any price in order to sit on company boards and councils.
The case of the politician stealing a frying pan in a supermarket: Poles often laugh at such reports, but in reality this exposes the grotesque, demoralised nature of individuals sitting in parliament, who can easily be manipulated.
Scepticism towards the new and old Konfederacja and anti-system movements: Just as the Kukiz movement, which held out no hope and was pacified, so all new political entities (including circles with strange connections) are immediately infiltrated and taken over by the special services.
7. The three pillars of the Republic's security
Poles must stop getting excited about media fireworks and firmly demand the implementation of three fundamental priorities:
External security: Resolutely preventing Poland from being drawn into any war, and safeguarding military sovereignty.
Internal security: Restoring elementary legal order, immediately halting mass migration from Third World countries, and limiting and regulating the issue of migration from Ukraine.
Economic security: Protecting national assets from being thoughtlessly handed out left and right, and opposing uncritical submission to external decision-making centres (a reference to Minister Radosław Sikorski's attitude towards pressure from across the ocean).
8. The true elite of the nation and the thought of Roman Dmowski
Poland urgently needs politicians and leaders who have nothing on their conscience, are not afraid and will not be broken by blackmail from the services or foreign powers. Such people exist within the nation, but they must be given a voice by informed voters. The conversation is summed up by Roman Dmowski's fundamental maxim: “No external force will ever defeat a united nation”. If Polish ministers and decision-makers were able to put the interest of their own state above subservience to foreign embassies and say a firm “NO”, they would gain the most powerful defender – their own sovereign Nation.
Editorial Summary
As Editor-in-Chief of Gazeta ALGOOMNI, I fully endorse Prof. Jacek Izydorczyk's uncompromising call: Poles must hold those in power to account for their promises every day and not allow themselves to be beguiled by media circuses. The Zondacrypto affair and the cryptocurrency flows must be thoroughly investigated, but it must not be allowed to become a smokescreen for high treason, a quarter of a million compatriots who died without help, and the further dismantling of the sovereignty of the Republic. It is time for a rule of law based on courage, not on fear of the services' files.
Mieczysław Dzikowski – Editor-in-Chief of Gazeta ALGOOMNI | 9 September 2026
THE 25 ALGOOMNI PILLARS
FUNDAMENTAL CONDITIONS FOR THE RULE OF LAW, DEMOCRACY, EQUALITY BEFORE THE LAW AND CIVIC SOVEREIGNTY
(Open civic forum: updated weekly with new points added. Send your proposals to: biuro@algoomni.com or via the portal www.algoomni.com)
THE SANCTITY OF EVERY VOTE
Every vote cast is the supreme, direct and inviolable mandate of the sovereign people in the state. No digital algorithm, no politicised electoral commission and no backroom party deal has the right to annul, falsify, distort or ignore the will of the citizens. Transparency, physical verifiability and public scrutiny of the electoral process at every stage are the inviolable foundation of the existence of the Republic.
RECOUNT OF VOTES AND INSPECTION OF THE 2025 PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION
The absolute necessity of carrying out a comprehensive, formal inspection and a fresh, 100% open and publicly broadcast recount of all ballot papers from the 2025 presidential election. Assuming the Office of the President of the Republic of Poland in the shadow of procedural machinations, amid the paralysis of oversight bodies and the staggering passivity of the authorities of the time, constituted a violation of the constitutional order that requires the material truth to be fully established.
HOLDING PIS TO ACCOUNT – AN UNCOMPROMISING “ZERO OPTION”
Full, uncompromising criminal, constitutional and financial liability for the systemic destruction of the legal order, the dismantling of the separation of powers and unlawful transfers of public funds during the years of PiS rule. Rejection of any rotten compromises, political deals or preferential treatment – every scandal, embezzlement and act of lawlessness must be judged down to the very bottom.
HOLDING THE CURRENT GOVERNMENT TO ACCOUNT FOR ITS OMISSIONS AND FAILURE TO SETTLE ACCOUNTS
A government that received a democratic mandate to restore the rule of law, and which in the name of conformism, political calculation and a quiet life chose procrastination and the sin of omission, must bear unequivocal political responsibility. The lack of firm accountability will take its revenge at the ballot box and open the way to a constitutional relapse by anti-democratic forces.
COMPLETE ABOLITION OF IMMUNITIES
The definitive abolition of parliamentary, judicial, prosecutorial and official immunities. All citizens without exception must be 100% equal before the law and answer to the same common courts. The institution of immunity has been completely perverted, becoming a pathological shield protecting corruption, common crime, abuse of power and the impunity of elites.
MANDATORY TWO-TERM LIMIT IN ALL BODIES
The introduction of a hard limit of a maximum of two terms (counted over a lifetime) for MPs, senators, city mayors, town mayors, village heads (wójt) and heads of state agencies and central offices. An end to a professional caste of politicians welded to their seats for decades and to the creation of entrenched bureaucratic clans feeding on citizens' property.
MANDATORY TOXICOLOGY TESTS FOR THOSE IN THE HIGHEST OFFICES
Mandatory, independent and random laboratory tests (blood, urine, hair) carried out every 3 months for the President of the Republic, the Prime Minister, ministers, deputy ministers, MPs, senators and heads of state institutions. Refusal to undergo testing or a positive result leads to immediate and automatic dismissal from office. People who decide on the security and fate of the nation must be fully sane, responsible and free from chemical dependencies.
A CITIZENS' CONSTITUTION WITH FIXED DEADLINES
The new Constitution must be written directly by citizens and independent experts, not by politicians and law firms concerned with their own impunity. The absolute elimination of discretionary, elastic phrases such as “without delay” or “within a reasonable time” and their replacement with precise calendar days, on pain of the official or judge automatically losing their post if they are exceeded.
STRICT ORDER OF RECEIPT IN COURTS AND OFFICES
A statutory, absolute requirement to process and examine cases strictly according to the date, minute and hour of their receipt by courts, prosecutors' offices and public administration offices. A final end to the “freezers” for cases inconvenient to those in power, political favouritism in court lists, the selection of cases at the behest of cliques and the deliberate protraction of proceedings so that they become time-barred.
FULL DISCLOSURE OF THE LIST OF THOSE ILLEGALLY SURVEILLED WITH DIGITAL SYSTEMS
The immediate publication of a full, open and complete register of all persons surveilled with cyberweapons (Pegasus, Hermes, Predator, Feng and similar). Society and public figures have an inalienable right to know who was wiretapped, blackmailed, manipulated and operationally destroyed when strategic state and economic decisions were being taken.
FULL CRIMINAL, CIVIL AND FINANCIAL LIABILITY OF OFFICIALS, JUDGES AND PROSECUTORS
The introduction of full, personal criminal, civil and financial liability (with all present and future private assets) for the president, prime ministers, ministers, MPs, senators, village heads, mayors, councillors, state officials and, without exception, judges and prosecutors for knowingly breaching the Constitution, corruption, fabricating evidence, issuing unlawful decisions and judgments, gross omissions and errors causing losses to the State Treasury or harm to citizens. An end to hiding with impunity behind a judge's robe, immunity or an office stamp – for lawlessness and damage, those in power, judges and prosecutors must pay out of their own pockets and bear criminal liability like any other citizen.
A TOTAL BAN ON COMBINING OFFICES AND A BAN ON SITTING ON THE BOARDS OF STATE TREASURY COMPANIES
A radical, absolute ban on sitting on the management boards, supervisory boards and advisory bodies of State Treasury companies, municipal companies and government agencies for ministers, deputy ministers, senior state and local government officials, MPs, senators, village heads, mayors, city mayors and councillors (with a 5-year cooling-off period after leaving office). A definitive end to the pathology of party cronyism, nepotism and the milking of state assets by political appointees.
AN ABSOLUTE BAN ON SWITCHING PARLIAMENTARY CLUB AND COUNCIL GROUP (A BAN ON POLITICAL TOURISM)
The mandate of an MP, senator and councillor is tied to the will of the voters expressed on the electoral committee's list. Leaving the club, defecting to another party or mandate-related political corruption results in the automatic expiry of the mandate and replacement by the next person on the electoral list. An end to trading in citizens' votes in parliament and local government.
MANDATORY ATTENDANCE AT VOTES AND SESSIONS ON PAIN OF LOSING ONE'S MANDATE
The work of a parliamentarian and councillor is a firm official duty towards the sovereign people. Unexcused absence from sittings of the Sejm, the Senate, committees or key votes exceeding 10% over a quarter results in the automatic loss of the mandate by operation of law, with no right to severance pay or a parliamentary pension.
FULL TRANSPARENCY OF EXPENDITURE: ALLOWANCES, MILEAGE AND OFFICES SETTLED EXCLUSIVELY BY PAYMENT CARD
A total ban on cash, lump-sum and advance settlements in parliamentary and local government activity. All office expenses, expert opinions, hotels, business travel and mileage must be paid exclusively with a personal official card linked to a public online register of expenditure accessible to every citizen in real time. Every attempt to fraudulently claim mileage means an immediate prosecutor.
AN END TO “SACRED COWS”: THE SAME LAW FOR POLITICIANS, JUDGES, PROSECUTORS, THE SERVICES AND JOURNALISTS
Equal law for all without caste privileges. The abolition of separate procedures, immunities, secret disciplinary courts and networks protecting politicians, prosecutors, judges, special services officers and the journalists linked to them. Every crime, cover-up, fabrication of operational material or paid media protection will be tried in open proceedings before a jury.
SYSTEMIC PROTECTION AND STRICT COUNTER-INTELLIGENCE OVERSIGHT OF FORMER SPECIAL SERVICES OFFICERS
Special services officers (AW, ABW, SKW, SWW, CBA) with knowledge of state secrets cannot be abandoned on the open market as easy prey for foreign intelligence services and criminal groups. The introduction of a 10-year ban on working for foreign entities and in sensitive sectors (cryptocurrencies, finance, gambling), combined with fair state analytical remuneration and permanent counter-intelligence protection.
TOTAL TRANSPARENCY AND BLOCKING INFILTRATION OF THE LEGISLATIVE PROCESS
Every draft law, regulation and amendment must have a public, digital register of its authors by full name, as well as a lobbying footprint. An absolute ban on laws being written by outside law firms and lobbyists linked to foreign capital. Any attempts to block anti-corruption and anti-money-laundering provisions to be treated as diplomatic treason.
SEPARATION OF CHURCH AND STATE AND AN END TO BUDGET FUNDING OF RELIGIOUS STRUCTURES
The immediate abolition of the Church Fund, taxation of the income of religious associations on general terms and an absolute ban on transferring State Treasury and local government property for next to nothing. Religious associations may be financed solely from voluntary tax allocations by the faithful (a voluntary church tax).
CITIZENS' VETO AND BINDING REFERENDUMS WITHOUT A TURNOUT THRESHOLD
Restoring real power to the sovereign people: a motion backed by 500,000 citizens' signatures obliges the Sejm to call a nationwide referendum whose result is absolutely binding on the state authorities, with no possibility of applying a turnout threshold. The executive and legislative authorities are prohibited from overriding the will of the nation expressed in a referendum.
DIGITAL TRANSPARENCY AND ACCOUNTABILITY: ONLY REAL DATA IN THE PUBLIC SPACE AND ON THE INTERNET
A requirement to verify identity and use real data when registering, logging in, publishing articles, running newspapers and operating social media and app accounts. An end to troll farms, bots, fake identities and organised disinformation – every participant in public debate and on digital platforms must bear full, personal legal responsibility for the content they publish.
TOTAL TRANSPARENCY OF SERVICE: BODY-WORN CAMERAS FOR OFFICIALS AND UNIFORMED FORMATIONS
An absolute obligation to make audiovisual recordings of all official acts performed by state officials, customs officers, police officers and officers of all uniformed and special services by means of permanently active body-worn cameras. The recording constitutes hard evidence in disciplinary and criminal proceedings, eliminating violence, abuse of power, extortion and the fabrication of charges.
DIRECT ELECTIONS AND THE POSSIBILITY OF RECALLING JUDGES, PROSECUTORS AND MINISTERS
The introduction of universal, direct civic elections and a mechanism allowing the sovereign people to recall judges, prosecutors, senior officials, ministers and the Prime Minister. The final elimination of the party-political appointment key, nepotism and corrupt backroom promotions in favour of direct verification and a mandate of trust from citizens.
COMPLETE DECLASSIFICATION OF THE ARCHIVES: OPENING THE IPN FILES AND THOSE OF THE COMMUNIST-ERA SERVICES
The immediate, one-hundred-per-cent opening and full publication of all archival materials, personal and operational files of the Institute of National Remembrance (IPN) and of the communist special services (SB, WSW, the Second Directorate of the General Staff). The abolition of the so-called restricted collections, in order to definitively cut off the possibility of blackmail, manipulation of the political scene, the building of intelligence “hooks” and the concealment of decision-makers' pasts.
A PUBLIC LIST OF ILLEGAL SECRET COLLABORATORS IN PROFESSIONS OF PUBLIC TRUST
The mandatory publication of a complete register of persons practising professions of public trust (judges, prosecutors, doctors, advocates, legal advisers, journalists) who were illegally recruited or entered into covert cooperation with the special services, including the Central Anti-Corruption Bureau (CBA). Secret entanglement within the structures of the justice system, the media and healthcare poses a direct threat to the rule of law and civil liberties.