On 26 July 2017, the Association against Anti-Semitism and Xenophobia. Open Rzeczpospolita has reported to the prosecutor’s office on the possibility of a hate crime being committed by the publication of an image depicting people of a different skin colour, denomination and ethnicity by the newspaper Gazeta Polska’s (No. 30 of July 26, 2017) The image illustrated an article titled “Refugees brought deadly illnesses”.

– The image and the article it illustrates violate the Polish criminal code. We believe that the cover not only offends people of a different skin colour, denomination, ethnic and national origin, but also fosters hatred and promotes fascist regime by visually referring to the propaganda of the Third Reich and in particular to a well-known propaganda poster depicting Jews as carriers of plague, typhus and lice – said Damian Wutke, the secretary of the Association in an interview with Presserwis.

On July 5, 2018, the District Court for the Capital City of Warsaw decided to allow the complaint, revoke the appealed decision and referred the case to the Prosecutor’s Office of Warsaw-Żoliborz for investigation.