‘We cannot remain silent in the light of such an intensity of ill will and such a gross violation of fundamental human and civil rights. It is also our duty, which arises from our judicial conscience and our knowledge of the law, to point out that cooperation with the commission according to the principles of this unprecedented act constitutes a violation of values that are dear to our traditions and respect for the common good,’ wrote the retired judges of the Constitutional Tribunal.

The president of the Court of Appeal in Warsaw, Piotr Schab, does not respect the law, while there is interference in final judgments to the benefit of the prosecutor’s office in the court he manages – as arises from the declaration of 43 judges of that court.

People who hold degrees in medicine, political science or no degree at all are specialists in criminal proceedings and state security. One also has a BSc in farming, one is a construction engineer and there is a technical college graduate. Such a bill could not have been prepared by this group of people – it was prepared by someone else and presented to them for signature, says Professor Mirosław Wyrzykowski.

PiS MPs have submitted a bill to the Sejm toughening the penalties for espionage and introducing an unintentional variant of this offence. ‘This could be a provision for abuse and to be used politically,’ warns a criminal law judge.

PiS is trying to force through an Act appointing a commission ‘To investigate Russian influence’ in the Sejm.

‘The structure of voters has changed. This will clearly reduce PiS’s chances in the elections. A motion was filed in 2014, as well as in 2018 and six months ago. The Sejm is not dealing with it at all for the third time, even though it is obliged to respect the opinion of the National Electoral Commission (NEC),’ says the former head of the NEC, Judge Wojciech Hermeliński.

by Oktawia Kromer, Gazeta Wyborcza   Judge Agnieszka Brygidyr-Dorosz sentenced activist Justyna Wydrzyńska to eight months of community service on 14 March for helping to terminate a pregnancy. That same day, she received a secondment to the Court of Appeal in Warsaw by order of Minister Ziobro.   Judge Brygidyr-Dorosz announced her promotion on Wednesday […]

The new presidents of the Poznań courts had not been promoted for years; they had low appraisals, they made mistakes that were sometimes so embarrassing as sentencing innocent people. Now Ziobro is giving them a huge amount of power. The judges have been stirred up.

‘It’s beneath me to comment on Ziobro’s words that “officials from Brussels want to incapacitate Poland”,’ says Supreme Court Judge Krzysztof Rączka.

Adam Burak, a member of Orlen’s management board, allegedly paid PLN 45,000 into PiS’s account earlier this year. According to Gazeta Wyborcza, eleven days later, the prosecutor’s office discontinued the investigation into his acceptance of a ‘personal and financial benefit’. The Anti-Corruption Bureau found that a crime had been committed – the prosecutor’s office did not. Orlen denies that the payment to PiS was connected with the discontinuation of the case.