Polish ex-minister flees Hungary to the US after PM Magyar says country won’t protect people wanted elsewhere

Poland’s former justice minister Zbigniew Ziobro, wanted on several criminal charges in his home country, has fled Hungary to the United States, he confirmed on Sunday, after being granted asylum from former Hungarian prime minister Viktor Orbán’s government last year. “I am in the United States,” Ziobro told rightwing Polish broadcaster Republika. “I arrived yesterday, and this is my third time travelling around the country,” he said. Ziobro faces up to 25 years in prison in Poland if convicted of the charges laid against him. They include abuse of power, leading an organised criminal enterprise and using funds meant for crime victims to buy Israeli Pegasus spyware, allegedly to monitor political opponents. He has rejected the charges against him, accusing the centrist Polish government of conducting a witch-hunt against conservatives. After Orbán’s party was ousted from power in an election in April, Hungary’s new prime minister, Péter Magyar – who was sworn in on Saturday – said that Hungary would no longer protect people wanted elsewhere. “Hungary will no longer be a dumping ground for internationally wanted criminals,” he told journalists the day after his victory, naming as examples Ziobro and his former deputy, Marcin Romanowski, suspected of embezzling nearly 40m euros ($47m). …