Poland: 34 years after journalist Jarosław Ziętara disappeared on his way to the newsroom, justice still pending

On 1 September 1992, investigative journalist Jarosław Ziętara left his home for the newsroom of the local daily Gazeta Poznańska, where he investigated economic scandals and alleged business misconduct. He never arrived. The experienced reporter, who had started his career at a student radio and later contributed to the weekly Wprost and daily Gazeta Wyborcza, was declared dead in 1999. His body has never been found.

In 2025, a Polish court held, for the first time and in line with the prosecutors, that Jarosław Ziętara had been abducted and murdered due to his reporting. However, in their subsequent decisions, courts have continued to request additional evidence before retrying the alleged perpetrators of his killing. The latest decision to this effect was handed down on 12 August 2026.

On 11 May 2018, 25 years after the first investigation into the journalist's disappearance started, the National Prosecutor's Office filed an indictment against two former security guards for Elektromis, a Poznań-based holding company that Jaroslaw Ziętara had been investigating. According to prosecutors, the journalist was targeted because he was investigating alleged customs fraud involving large-scale alcohol smuggling by companies linked to Elektromis, as well as ties between business, criminal and political circles. The security guards were accused of abducting Jarosław Ziętara, unlawfully detaining him and acting as accomplices to his murder. The Poznań Regional Court, ruling as the trial court, acquitted them in 2022.

New trial is still pending

On 2 December 2025, the Poznań Court of Appeal, the appellate court in the case, overturned the acquittals and ruled that Jarosław Ziętara had been abducted and "killed because he was a journalist." It ordered the case to be retried from the beginning.

However, on 25 May 2026, the Poznań Regional Court returned the case to prosecutors in Kraków for additional evidence-gathering, including the examination of documents produced by the former Office for State Protection (Urząd Ochrony Państwa, UOP), Poland's civilian intelligence and counter-intelligence service. The National Prosecutor's Office appealed, arguing that the case contained no investigative gaps that justified its return and that any outstanding evidence could be examined by the trial court.

On 12 August 2026, the Poznań Court of Appeal rejected the prosecution's appeal, thereby upholding the trial court's decision. The case therefore remains with prosecutors for further investigation, and no date has been set for the new trial. More than eight years have passed since the indictment was filed.

Poland ranks 27th out of 180 countries and territories in RSF's 2026 World Press Freedom Index.