It is with great sadness that we bid farewell to Zenon Michajłowski, one of the founders and members of the Watchdog Poland Civic Network. He was with us from the very beginning and remained actively interested and involved in transparency issues throughout his life. Few people in Poland can boast such a long and consistent history of fighting for the right to information.

In order to give you a better understanding of Zenon and his work, we would like to give the floor to the members of our association, as well as our office staff.

Katarzyna Batko-Tołuć

Zenon Michajłowski passed away on 23 September at 7 p.m. The news came in the evening. I heard silence and felt emptiness. Zenon was ill – we knew it would happen someday. Someday. Many years from now. I was still planning trips to western Poland to visit him. I am glad that I went at least once.

Cold upbringing

I will not hesitate to say that for both the Watchdog Network and me personally, Zenon was a mentor, a point of reference and a source of irritation. I loved him and I still love him. And I am terribly sad, even though I have grown up and can live without him.

Zenon did not feel sorry for anyone. When I was elected president of the Watchdog Network (then the Association of Local Civic Group Leaders) in February 2004, he summed it up briefly: ‘Someone had to be chosen.’ A warm encouragement to take on the most difficult task I have ever faced in my life 😉

He believed in the principle of ‘cold upbringing’. He did not praise. At least not us. But by demanding a lot from us, he made us who we are today. He set the main focus of our activity, which is the right to information. Initially, we wanted to do more, but Zenon was stubborn and patient, and in time he got his way – the right to information is our main topic. He also made sure that we were accountable within the organisation – the office cannot be more important than the members, the management board has a duty to provide members with access to organisational documents, and the Audit Committee must have the conditions to work. It is symbolic that in June we closed the office on Ursynowska Street, which allowed us to meet these requirements, and in September Zenon passed away. An era is coming to an end for Watchdog.

I spent an incredible amount of time with him

We were together when the news came of the death of the guru of the right to information, Prof. Teresa Górzyńska. I remember how sad we both were, sitting at some airport, waiting for a connecting flight. I wrote a memoir, and Zenon nodded his approval. He knew her. He used to go to her place for pierogi. They talked about the right to information and the expulsions from the Eastern Borderlands after World War II. Perhaps their families were from the same area.

I owe him a lot of travel adventures. My fondest memory is of a budget trip to Lviv. Warsaw – Przemyśl – Medyka – pedestrian crossing – a rickety minibus or marshrutka – Lviv. Zenon, of course, put on a show at the border. Handing his passport to the border guard, he introduced himself as ‘the old man from the Lubusz Forest’. Then he kept asking if this minibus was going to Lviv. Several people confirmed this, and others saw that we were asking others. I felt stupid. But Zenon simply said, ‘You have to check information from several sources’ 😉

We visited our partners and friends from the OPORA movement. It was probably around 2007 or 2008. We arrived at the office, and there was only one bed. Zenon quietly left and slept on the tables. I got the luxury bed. That’s when I realised that I would learn from him not only to think about the right to information, but also to think about history. We visited the Cemetery of the Defenders of Lviv. Zenon showed me plaques made from other plaques. He sparked my imagination.

At the end of 2013, he became seriously ill. December of that year was a nightmare for me. I couldn’t find my place, nothing made me happy. I tried to heal him with my willpower. It worked 😉 Although, of course, it was thanks to his wonderful wife Weronika. Who, incidentally, summed it up herself: ‘Zenon taught me that.’ He saved his own life by teaching me how to demand from institutions. Once he was back on his feet – which does not mean healthy, because unfortunately this illness began to gradually change him – I called Weronika to ask if I should suggest to Zenon that he go to Estonia for a forum of European and Russian organisations. I knew that he would obviously be convinced to go, but I didn’t want to do something irresponsible. Weronika said, ‘It will do him good.’ He was not in good shape at all. He was still recovering. But Zenon was being treated for his head, not for rehabilitation. We went with Boris Bura, and together we demonstrated in front of the Russian Federation embassy. I don’t remember what the cause was, but there was always a reason. Zenon was thriving.

All in all, it’s strange that most of my memories are from international trips, but I guess it was simply the time when we were together the longest and our adventures were the most varied.

We were also together in Transnistria, Moldova. Just before his first illness, in 2013. I was invited as a ‘watchdog trainer,’ but I suggested that Zenon and I go together – that way, the training could be conducted in Russian. Zenon was my voice. My Russian was terrible at the time. Just going with Zenon allowed me to understand Transnistria and its whole absurd history. He asked a lot of questions – “What happens if a farmer has land in Moldova and Transnistria? Does he pay different taxes?”

But that’s what I learned from Zenon. Asking questions, even if they’re not very clever, opens up a conversation. It shows curiosity. When we were together, we always got a whole team of people to help us. That is, Zenon got them involved. I just took advantage of it.

Zenon the teacher

In recent years, I found it difficult to be with him. I had the impression that little of that magic remained. Two colleagues from the association, Anna Barabasz and Ewa Majda, helped me understand that his phenomenon had not disappeared. Both of them, independently of each other, beamed when he was mentioned, emphasising, ‘He is an erudite, wise man, it is good to be around Zenon.’

Exactly. It was good to be around Zenon. And this old recording is a testament to my great respect and love for him. It may be from 2011, but I’m not sure. Zenon the teacher.

Szymon Osowski

The Polish judiciary opened up to transparency, and then it broke down. And it all started in Łódź.

It was there that Zenon secured the first ruling on transparency, back in 1996. There was no Constitution, no law on access to public information. Zenon is no longer with us. All I have left are his Nordic walking poles.

Many times, my route to meetings in Poland took me through Grodzisk Wielkopolski and Nowa Sól. I would stop there and pick up Zenon. I promised Weronika, his wife, that I would bring him back, but I wasn’t sure if I could keep my word.

That was Zenon for you, as he used to say, ‘Give me a place to sleep and I’ll do my job.’ And his job was to check how the right to information worked. Zenon had a huge influence on my approach to the right to information. I remember the very beginning, maybe 2006, and the discussion about whether it was the right to public information or the right to information. Zenon was adamant – it is the right to information – and he was right. It was hard for me to understand, but sometimes obvious things are not easy.

In December 2024, I went to pick up Zenon again, we were going to the Human Rights Defenders’ Rally. It was our last trip together. I came back home and saw that the green Nordic walking poles were still in the boot. So familiar to me. I think it was prophetic. When I visited Weronika and Zenon some time ago, I realised that I had forgotten to take them with me. There will still be time to return them.

There was always time, or so it seemed. When Zenon fell seriously ill in 2013, the first thing he did after leaving the hospital was to go to Warsaw for OFIP. We went together. He recovered from a serious illness because he had been saying for years that it was necessary to ask questions and verify information. That’s what happened during his illness – thanks to the right to information, he made it.

I also remember two training courses. One was at the very beginning, when we were still doing Public Information Weeks. I will remember them for the rest of my life, because Zenon was simply there in his entirety. It’s hard to explain to those who didn’t know him, but those who did know him understand. And the second was when Zenon talked about the right to information and had this long pointer in his hands. There was no objection that the right to information is the most important thing. Because it is, thanks to Zenon.

The right to information is a human right

Travelling with Zenon around Greater Poland, because that’s where we started our travels around Poland, I learned about the history of the region, the historical divisions, but we also talked every time about how the old railway line had been converted into a cycle path with metal barriers along it. These barriers are a recurring theme, because how much money had to be spent to build so many of them?

Human rights. How many times have I heard that? The right to information is a human right. And you have to ask. And so we found ourselves in the District Court in Nowa Sól. Who else remembers that once upon a time, some transparency cases were handled by common courts? And it was funny how there were cases about payment before us, and the last case was about access to information. The judge sat and read the law, while Zenon and I talked. In the end, we won the case. The requested information was in an envelope with red writing on it. And at the end, the judge gave the envelope to Zenon to open. We have a photo of it.

And these activities. Always and everywhere. It was enough for Zenon to be in a certain place and really check things out. And again we set off across Poland, this time from Nowa Sól to the south. And the first town on the way, after a few kilometres, was Nowe Miasteczko. The actions were carried out, but we lost a tyre. What you don’t do for transparency.

Our children are the same age. Our last conversation was also about them. About the fact that they are already in secondary school. About their passions, activities and, in general, that they are grown up. And we have changed. Zenon had a huge influence on how I perceive the right to information, but also on how I exercise that right. Over time, our approaches have changed. Not radically, but in nuances. That it is possible to ask questions and enforce the right to information in a different way. Nothing happens by accident. Right now, and in fact yesterday, after receiving responses to requests that show that the right to information is not respected, I thought of Zenon. You’re right again, we have to keep an eye on this place.

He criticised the rubber clause

And this disagreement with the rubber clause. After all, we cannot forget how many times Zenon spoke about Article 1(2) of the Act on Access to Public Information. That the multitude of procedures makes the right to information illusory. And about the story Zenon told about Prof. Teresa Górzyńska giving up work on the bill precisely because of the rubber clause. It is so obvious that this should not be the case and that there should be a single procedure. And so Zenon wrote on 13 March 2007: ‘Inflation of procedures for access to information. Each act has a separate procedure. Even if it is tiny. Miniscule. But different. No wonder they get lost in it themselves.’

How much time we spent together in the office on Ursynowska Street. And we had an office with sleeping facilities. Zenon spent much more time there, but we were often there together. Those evening stories about which institutions Zenon had visited and what he had asked about. And those handwritten applications.

And when it comes to applications, there are forms. I checked the first emails I have from Zenon – they are from 2006 and 2007. And in them, there is a huge disagreement about application forms. Ready-made forms in which you had to enter your details, e.g. your first and last name. And what, you’re right again. As you said, ‘self-identification’ is bad. Yes, the guarantee of anonymity when asking questions is extremely important. Those who don’t understand this didn’t ask questions in small towns, for example, where asking questions leads to ostracism. And it was you who led to the GIODO (Inspector General for Personal Data Protection) stating that the forms were illegal and that the data of those asking the questions could not be collected. You are still right, and 20 years have passed. Look at what you wrote in 2007 about problems with the right to information:

Now, in the DIP section, the important issues are:

• Enforcing written requests (illegally) and other unlawful requirements (forms)
• Notorious failure to comply with immediacy (deadlines).
• Fees higher than costs.
• Registration of everyone (unlawfully).
• Appointment of persons in offices with the exclusive right to disclose information.
• Lack of enforcement of the law (Article 23).

Our children are grown up now, and we still have the same problems. It is thanks to Zenon that Article 23 of the Act on Access to Public Information is still alive. We were at a conference, probably in 2006. An expert was speaking there – you remembered her name, as we mentioned – and when asked about criminal liability, she said that it was not standard practice. We talked about it many times, that with our national approach to transparency, this liability is important. So much so, despite everything, that you were unable to secure a conviction under Article 23. However, the 2008 case, the Rabka cases, the Lux Veritatis case are all thanks to you – you drummed into our heads that we had to enforce the law.

And everyone. Everyone has the right to information. You fought for this every day, I think. And I will write it as you wrote it – EVERYONE. Again, this is obvious. But it is often forgotten. You were right many times. The Polish right to information got bogged down in procedures, in deliberations about the age of those asking questions, in such nuances that all that was produced were books and judgements on whether, for example, an invoice is public information, on abuse. And yet it is a human right. Yes, you are right, and we must not stray from this path.

I simply thank you, because I am where I am today thanks to you.

Marzena Błaszczyk

Back in the 1990s, Zenon noted that access to knowledge about the activities of the authorities is not a privilege, but a fundamental right of citizens. In 1996, he initiated one of the first court cases in Poland concerning access to information. The 1997 Constitution of the Republic of Poland and the subsequent Act on Access to Public Information did not yet exist. The case ended with a landmark ruling: the court ruled that in order to be able to make rational decisions, residents of a municipality should be aware of the activities of municipal authorities in various aspects, and referred to Article 10 of the European Convention on Human Rights in its justification.

But Zenon was not only a pioneer in court. He was, above all, a practitioner. He submitted motions, analysed documents and reviewed decisions. When he visited a new place, he often dropped in at the local council office and asked questions. He did this not only for himself – he often acted on behalf of others who did not know how to start or needed support. He shared his knowledge and showed how to exercise the right to information.

Zenon liked to talk, he was full of anecdotes, he was a chatterbox, but he also listened with curiosity and asked questions of the people he met. His persistence, consistency and energy were an inspiration to many of us. He participated in all meetings, rallies and general assemblies. Thanks to him, the idea of transparency gained a very concrete face and history in Poland, which we can share. He was proof that one person – by asking questions and not giving up – can change the rules of the game.

Ewa Majda

Zenon,

at last year’s rally, you were with us until the end of the karaoke evening. Amazing, I thought. I clearly remember looking into the corner of the room and seeing you there, looking very happy. I don’t have many memories, even though you are ‘history’, but I always felt that you were someone very important to the Association and to us, its members – you are our DNA.

And this photo from Pruszków is like a message – our Capo di tutti Capi.