Court orders Kaja Godek to apologise to Bart Staszewski

2026-10-19

The Regional Court in Warsaw has issued a judgment in a personal rights case brought by LGBT+ activist Bart Staszewski against Kaja Godek. The case concerned a remark she made to him during the 2021 Equality March in Lublin, in which she accused him of sexually abusing children. The court ordered her to apologise to Staszewski in person or by letter. This is a first-instance judgment and it is not final.

• The Regional Court in Warsaw has ordered Kaja Godek to apologise to Bart Staszewski, in person or by letter.
• The case concerned words spoken at the Equality March in Lublin on 23 October 2021, in which Godek accused him of sexually abusing children.
• The judgment was handed down on 19 October 2026, case reference IV C 44/25, before Judge Agnieszka Derejczyk.
• The ruling is not final — an appeal is available to both parties.

The words that went to court

On 23 October 2021, during the Equality March in Lublin, Bart Staszewski, an activist for the rights of LGBT+ people, was confronted by Kaja Godek, an activist of the Life and Family Foundation.

In the course of the exchange, Godek said to Staszewski:

Dear Sir, we do not talk to people who sexually abuse children.

The remark was captured on video. Staszewski considered it a defamatory statement that violated his dignity, good name and reputation.

In his view, Godek’s words went far beyond the limits of permissible criticism, because they attributed to him acts belonging to the gravest offences against sexual freedom.

The case was ultimately heard by the Regional Court in Warsaw.

Kaja Godek ordered to apologise

What the court ruled

The judgment was handed down today, 19 October 2026, in the case under reference IV C 44/25. It is a first-instance ruling.

The judgment was announced at a remote hearing. Kaja Godek did not take part in it.

The court ordered Kaja Godek to apologise to Bart Staszewski. Under the ruling, the apology is to be delivered in person or by letter. The case was heard by Judge Agnieszka Derejczyk.

From the oral reasons

In the oral reasons for the judgment, the judge also stated that “Kaja Godek is not the conscience of the nation”. She explained that it cannot be that Kaja Godek levels accusations and then expects people to answer for them.

That statement forms a significant element of the reasoning in a case concerning the limits of criticism, freedom of expression and the right to protection of one’s good name.

Comment from Bart Staszewski

The court got it exactly right: Kaja Godek is not the conscience of the nation. Neither she nor anyone from Law and Justice has the right to tell us how to live, or to accuse us of things we have nothing to do with. Words cannot be thrown to the wind — they have to be answered for. Today it is Kaja Godek who has to answer for hers.

Freedom of speech does not mean freedom from responsibility

The case turns on a fundamental distinction between the right to express views and responsibility for public statements that violate the personal rights of others.

People who take part in public debate must expect sharp criticism, including from their ideological opponents. That does not, however, amount to permission to accuse them, without foundation, of committing serious crimes.

Why this case reaches beyond one dispute

For Staszewski, the proceedings mattered beyond this individual dispute. In public life, LGBT+ people and those who campaign for their rights have for years faced statements linking homosexuality with sexual crime. Using such associations to discredit ideological opponents should not go unanswered.

The judgment is not final. Both parties may pursue the remedies provided for by law.

The gap in the law

I regret that the amendment to the Criminal Code never came through — the one that would have allowed public statements aimed at groups to be prosecuted ex officio. What Kaja Godek does at Equality Marches, comparing LGBT people to child rapists and paedophiles, is vile and ought to be against the law. If she said it about any other group — about Ukrainians, for instance — it would be prosecuted as hate speech. Today LGBT people do not have the same protection as other groups.

We can look for justice in the civil courts only when such words are said directly to us and about us. That is not how a state under the rule of law should work.

Case details

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Acknowledgements

Bart Staszewski was represented in these proceedings by adw. Bartosz Przeciechowski and adw. Sara Lipert.

Press materials and terms of use

The text of this press release is made available under the free licence Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0).

Newsrooms, journalists, civil society organisations and other interested parties may freely copy, publish, distribute, translate and adapt the text, including for commercial purposes, under the terms of the licence. Attribution is required: Bart Staszewski, together with a note on the licence and on any changes made.

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