Bannon protege loses case against liberal Polish newspaper
WARSAW, Poland (AP) - An American conservative activist and Steve Bannon protege lost a defamation case Friday against a Polish journalist who described him as 'œTrump's man'ť and part of a global war against democracy by the political right.
Matthew Tyrmand, a 38-year-old American with Polish roots, has written for Breitbart and is a board member of the organization Project Veritas, which carries out undercover stings against liberal and mainstream media.
He sued journalist Tomasz PiÄ…tek and Agora, publisher of the liberal newspaper Gazeta Wyborcza, over a 2016 article that described Tyrmand as "part of the global war by the right wing against democracy."
Tyrmand objected to several points in the article, including the description of him as 'œTrump's man" and of Trump as being sympathetic to Russian President Vladimir Putin. He also objected to PiÄ…tek writing that Project Veritas wages 'œinformational warfare."
In testimony last year, Tyrmand argued that the article connected him 'œin this tenuous guilt-by-association to Vladimir Putin.'ť He called it the 'œbiggest slander and slur'ť possible in a part of Europe that had 'œachieved independence from the Soviet tyranny.'ť Tyrmand was not in court Friday and could not be immediately reached for comment.
Judge Jacek Tyszka rejected Tyrmand's argument that he had been defamed and ordered Tyrmand to pay 4,000 zlotys ($1,050) to the reporter and the same amount to Agora. Tyszka argued that it was not defamatory to describe Tyrmand as part of Trump's circle when he has written for Breitbart and been associated with other pro-Trump players.
Tyszka also said the description of Project Veritas was acceptable , given that the group is partisan and limits its sting operations to exposing wrongdoing by liberals to help conservatives.
Tyrmand had demanded an apology and 50,000 Polish zlotys ($13,200) for charity.
Tyrmand is the son of the late Leopold Tyrmand, a prominent Polish-Jewish communist-era dissident and writer who survived the Holocaust and emigrated to the United States in the 1960s. During the 2016 U.S. presidential campaign Matthew Tyrmand distributed the film 'œClinton Cash'ť - which portrayed Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton as captive to wealthy foreign interests - in Poland.
PiÄ…tek and the newspaper welcomed Friday's ruling.
'œIt's a victory for freedom of speech,'ť PiÄ…tek's lawyer, Piotr Rogowski, told The Associated Press after the decision was read in Warsaw's district court. 'œTyrmand presents himself as a supporter of freedom in the United States and he comes here and acts like a censor.'ť
Gazeta Wyborcza is also being sued in 50 other cases by Poland's ruling populist party and its allies over articles that are critical and have exposed high-level corruption.
'œThey want to waste our time and have a chilling effect on our reporting,'ť the newspaper's deputy editor, Bartosz WieliÅ„ski, told the AP.