The illegally constituted Disciplinary Chamber has lifted the immunity of Judge Igor Tuleya, which will allow the National Prosecutor’s Office to bring absurd criminal charges against him for admitting journalists to an announcement of a ruling which was important to the public. Tuleya was also suspended from his duties as a judge and had his salary reduced by 25%.

The current authority will have increasingly greater control over the Supreme Administrative Court, which is at the same level of importance as the Supreme Court. This is because judges and lawyers who have decided to cooperate with the authorities and Minister Ziobro’s ministry are applying for positions in that court.

The chief disciplinary commissioner, Piotr Schab, has been nominated to the office of president of the Regional Court in Warsaw. Schab is known for prosecuting independent judges. If this information is officially confirmed, it will mean a stricter course for Poland’s largest court.

Increasingly more people are involved in prosecuting and repressing independent judges. Not only have other judges joined Schab’s, Radzik’s and Lasota’s team of disciplinary commissioners, but so have assistants. The costs of employing them are also increasing, because they spent PLN 156,000 on travel and accommodation alone last year.

National Public Prosecutor Bogdan Święczkowski sent an order to the prosecutors to block European Arrest Warrants issued by the Netherlands. He did this in retaliation for the court in Amsterdam suspending the enforcement of an EAW from Poland in connection with the restriction of the independence of Polish courts

‘These are inquisitorial proceedings. This has nothing to do with a fair trial,’ said Judge Beata Morawiec’s defence attorneys. The judge can still appeal against the Disciplinary Chamber’s decision

TVP’s news, ‘Wiadomości’, struck at Judge Beata Morawiec, known for her defence of the free courts, with material that sounded like a sentence that has already been passed against her. The material, which was based on a leak from the files from the prosecutor’s office, was broadcast two days before the Disciplinary Chamber’s meeting, which will decide on whether to cancel the judge’s immunity.

Tomasz Kosakowski donated 12,500 zlotys to the PiS election fund and has just been appointed a judge by President Andrzej Duda. His former partner from the law firm paid 25,000 zlotys to the fund and is now applying for a position in the administrative court

The Disciplinary Chamber will decide at the beginning of October whether the National Prosecutor’s Office will be able to press far-fetched criminal charges against judges who are known for defending the free courts. Judges and lawyers from all over Poland are supporting Igor Tuleya and Beata Morawiec.

The public prosecutor, assisted by the Central Anti-Corruption Bureau (CAB), entered Judge Beata Morawiec’s house a little after 6 a.m. on 18 September. Threatening to search the house, he took her official laptop containing sensitive data. Judge Morawiec is the president of the Themis association of judges, which defends the courts and criticizes the Minister of Justice, Zbigniew Ziobro.