The Sejm has elected 15 members of the new Nationa Council for Judiciary for a second term with the ruling coalition’s votes. They are mainly the members of the Council to date, but there are also a few new ones. The MPs were not discouraged by the fact that several judges belonged to a group on WhatsApp called Kasta/Antykasta.

‘A queer rainbow’, ‘perverts’ or ‘somehow, I stopped fu**ing caring’ – this is the atmosphere and language of the discussions between the supporters of the so-called good change, including Deputy Minister Łukasz Piebiak in the Antykasta [Anti-Caste] discussion group. We show how a member of the NCJ described the candidates for promotion before the Council as ‘my people’ without any inhibitions.

Acting First President of the Supreme Court Małgorzata Manowska has requested the opening of proceedings against three legal judges of the Supreme Court for wanting to assess the legality of neo-judges while implementing the judgments of the ECtHR, the CJEU and the Supreme Court. Professor Wróbel and Judge Matras, who is defending suspended judges, could face charges.

Three new disciplinary cases have been initiated against Judge Żurek. A judge who refused to disclose her child’s illness is also being prosecuted, while another has been transferred on disciplinary charges for applying EU law

The Law and Justice party (PiS) is continuing to breach the rule of law and exacerbate the conflict with the EU. The ruling party has already agreed on a list of 15 candidates for the neo-NCJ II, which gives nominations to judges. It will be even worse than the current one, because the list contains “hawks” headed by Łukasz Piebiak. 

Minister of Justice Zbigniew Ziobro wants to remove the legal judges from the Supreme Court. The current Supreme Court is to be liquidated under the guise of implementing a CJEU ruling, to be replaced by a small Supreme Court with only 30 vetted judges. This radical plan is in conflict with Duda’s and PiS’s bills.

The European Commission is to decide whether to unfreeze billions for Poland from the EU’s Reconstruction Fund. It should not ‘buy’ President Duda’s or the Law and Justice party’s (PiS’s) offer. It needs to demand the full restoration of the rule of law. Otherwise, it will condemn the courts to ultimate destruction, reward ‘sly judges’ and antagonise the judicial community.

A group of PiS MPs have submitted a bill to the Sejm which they claim will implement the CJEU ruling and unlock billions of euros for Poland. However, PiS does not want to liquidate the Disciplinary Chamber, but only take away its disciplinary cases regarding judges. PiS’s bill strikes at Duda’s initiative.

Almost all judges – members of the old, legal National Council of Judiciary (Krajowa Rada Sądownictwa, KRS), which was dissolved by PiS, have signed an appeal to the authorities to implement the ECtHR and CJEU judgments. They are appealing to the authorities to appoint an NCJ which is consistent with the Constitution. They are also appealing to judges to boycott recruitment for the second term of office of the neo-NCJ.

The National Prosecutor’s Office wants to strike at the president of the association of judges, Iustitia. Krystian Markiewicz is facing criminal charges for his statements to OKO.press, in which he talks about the need to implement CJEU rulings. The prosecutor’s office wants OKO.press to hand over materials that are subject to secrecy.