Hungary revokes asylum of Polish politicians taken in by Orbán government

"I have received written confirmation that Hungary has revoked refugee status for Marcin Romanowski, Zbigniew Ziobro, and Patrycja Kotecka-Ziobro. They have also annulled their travel documents. The wheels of justice grind slowly, but they grind", Polish Foreign Minister Radosław Sikorski posted on his X page Thursday evening.
This means that Hungary has officially revoked the political asylum granted by the previous Hungarian government led by Viktor Orbán to former Polish Minister of Justice Zbigniew Ziobro, former Deputy Minister of Justice Marcin Romanowski, and Ziobro’s wife. The two Polish politicians, left Hungary following the elections.

The cases of the two Polish politicians—both of whom are wanted in their home country and who were granted asylum in Hungary—have attracted the most attention. Marcin Romanowski, who was accused of corruption in Poland, fled to Hungary in December 2024 and was granted political asylum by the Orbán government. The Polish prosecutor’s office has accused the politician of the nationalist-conservative Law and Justice (PiS) party of, among other things, embezzlement of public funds and corruption.

The former Minister of Justice, Zbigniew Ziobro is also implicated in the case. He is suspected of having founded and led a criminal organization while serving as justice minister during the Law and Justice (PiS) administration. The organization is alleged to have embezzled as much as 150 million zlotys (12.7 billion forints). The former Polish Minister of Justice is currently also wanted in Poland; in January of this year both he and his wife received asylum from the Orbán government.

Both Ziobro and Romanowski left Hungary quickly following Fidesz’s election defeat on April 12.

As early as his first press conference after the Tisza Party's election victory, Péter Magyar announced that once the government was formed, they would review the status of politicians who had received political asylum from the Orbán government but were facing convictions or pending trials in their home countries. Later, during his visit to Warsaw in May, Magyar reiterated that Budapest and Hungary would not serve as a dumping ground for criminals wanted internationally. He had previously indicated that Ziobro had left for the United States, while Romanowski had departed Hungary for Serbia.

The Ministry of Interior began reviewing the cases of those who received political asylum from the Orbán government as early as the beginning of June. Other than the two Polish politicians, this may also affect the former North Macedonian prime minister, Nikola Gruevski.