The Court of Appeal in Warsaw dismissed Brudziński's appeal on September 8, upholding a 2023 ruling by the District Court in Warsaw, the Fundacja Otwarty Dialog (Open Dialogue Foundation) NGO said on Monday.
Brudziński, a member of the European Parliament and deputy leader of the conservative Law and Justice (PiS) party, must publish an apology on his X account and pay a total of PLN 15,000 (EUR 3,450, USD 3,850) in compensation, plus interest and appeal costs.
The case concerned a post Brudziński published in April 2019, when he was Poland's interior minister.
He accused the NGO and people associated with it of money laundering and suggested they had questionable links to Russia.
The post also referred to protests in defense of judicial independence in which the Open Dialogue Foundation had participated.
The organization and its leaders, Lyudmyla Kozlovska and Bartosz Kramek, sued Brudziński, arguing that the accusations damaged their reputations.
The court found that the post violated their personal rights, a category under Polish civil law that includes reputation and good name.
The foundation said Brudziński has already paid the compensation. On September 23, it obtained an enforcement order covering the required apology.
Brudziński declined to comment on the final ruling, Polish state news agency PAP reported.
After losing the case at first instance in 2023, he wrote on X that the decision had been issued by "heated-up judges," a phrase used by some Polish politicians to accuse judges of political bias.
"The court examined his accusations against us and ruled unequivocally that they had no basis in fact and served a politically motivated attack," Kramek said in a statement released by his NGO.
"The case is ending after many years, and the compensation is rather symbolic, but it shows that there are no sacred cows and that it is worth being consistent in defending your rights," he added.
The Open Dialogue Foundation and its leaders have brought a series of personal-rights cases against politicians, journalists and media organizations over statements made about the group when Brudziński's PiS party was in power from 2015 to 2023.
Defendants have included former Foreign Minister Witold Waszczykowski, PiS politicians Patryk Jaki and Krystyna Pawłowicz, and media organizations including public broadcasters Polish Radio and TVP.
(rt/gs)
Source: PAP, rp.pl, onet.pl