We are proud to announce that Wojciech Kozłowski and Radosław Żygadło have been named laureates of the prestigious Social Impact Awards 2025, presented by the Legal Benchmarking Group, for a landmark case concerning the protection of personal rights. 👉
The case concerned the infringement of the personal rights of 15 individuals from the LGBT+ community through public statements in which homosexual persons were portrayed in an unequivocally stigmatising and harmful manner. In its judgment of 25 February 2025, the Regional Court in Warsaw held that the claimants’ personal rights had been infringed, ordered the defendant to issue an apology and — most importantly — departed from the previously rigorous interpretation of the “individualisation” requirement, indicating that statements targeting an entire social group may infringe the personal rights of each of its members, the key point being the actual demonstration that specific individuals suffered harm, which in this case was confirmed by the evidence.
The Court also clearly emphasised that freedom of expression, freedom of religion and invoking the public interest do not justify the use of offensive and stigmatising language. The judgment is not final.
This is a tremendous distinction for us, but above all an important moment for the standards of human-rights protection and the quality of public debate in Poland. Congratulations to Wojciech Kozłowski and Radosław Żygadło — we are proud to play on the same team. ⚖️👏