Piotr Pytel blocked from travel due to outdated ban

Former head of the Military Counterintelligence Service, General Piotr Pytel, was prevented from traveling to Turkey on Saturday morning after Border Guard officers at Katowice-Pyrzowice Airport discovered an active travel ban in their system.

The ban originated from a 2017 investigation by the Warsaw District Prosecutor's Office regarding alleged cooperation with Russian intelligence services. Although a court had officially lifted the travel restrictions in February 2018, the information was never updated in the Border Guard's databases, leading to the incident.

Justice Minister Waldemar Żurek intervened to resolve the situation, stating that Pytel is now free to travel. Żurek criticized the incident as “unacceptable,” attributing the administrative failure to the judicial practices of the previous administration under Zbigniew Ziobro.

Representatives for General Pytel described the situation as a “scandal” and indicated they would seek compensation for financial losses and distress. The Border Guard maintained that officers were simply following the data available in their official registers.