Polish Police Detain Far-Right Leader Wojciech Olszański to Serve Prison Term

Polish police detained Wojciech Olszański, a leader of the nationalist movement Rodacy Kamraci who uses the nickname "Jaszczur," on Thursday, 22 October, to take him to prison to serve a sentence, according to Gazeta. Officers from the district police command for western Warsaw County, backed by the capital police's missing-persons and identification unit, stopped him as he left a courthouse where he had a hearing that day.

Why it matters

The arrest turns a long-running hate-speech case into a concrete prison term, and two cabinet ministers framed it publicly as proof that court rulings are being carried out. Interior and Administration Minister Marcin Kierwiński announced the detention on X, writing that Olszański had been held so he could be delivered to a correctional facility under a court order, and adding: "The state is acting." Justice Minister and Prosecutor General Waldemar Żurek said on the same platform that the detention followed a final and binding ruling by the District Court for Warsaw-Śródmieście over incitement to hatred on national grounds, and that anyone breaking the law would answer for it.

What the police and ministry said

Karolina Gałecka, a spokeswoman for the interior ministry, told Gazeta that Olszański was detained after leaving the court where his case was being heard. The Warsaw police command said that once the necessary procedural steps were completed, he would be taken to a remand centre to serve his sentence, as the court directed. The detention was carried out under a decision of the District Court for Warsaw-Śródmieście.

The sentence behind the arrest

According to the Polish Press Agency, cited by Gazeta, the District Court in Toruń sentenced Olszański in May 2025 to two years of restricted liberty for inciting hatred against people of Jewish nationality. That penalty required him to perform 20 hours a month of unpaid, supervised community work. In September, the Gdańsk Court of Appeal softened the first-instance ruling, reducing the term to one and a half years of restricted liberty.

The case stemmed from an event on 13 August in Grudziądz, during a gathering called the National March of General Tadeusz Rozwadowski. Judge Rafał Ryś, who chaired the panel, said Olszański publicly called for hatred toward Jewish people because of their nationality, attributing to them negative traits, hostile and deceitful intentions, and efforts aimed at seriously worsening the economic situation of Polish citizens, and presenting them as enemies of Poland who deserved to die.

What to watch is whether Olszański's legal team seeks any further review now that he is in custody, and how Rodacy Kamraci responds to the loss of one of its leaders.