Judge Maciej Rutkiewicz of the Elbląg District Court has been suspended for one month on Tuesday, November 9, 2021, by the decision of the president of the Elbląg court Agnieszka Walkowiak, an appointee of Minister Ziobro’s ministry.

Walkowiak was known for taking away judges’ robes to prevent judges from taking them to the March of a Thousand Robes in January 2020. She also used the court’s car to transport files to commute from her home to work and back. She was driven by the court’s driver. In addition, under the current government Walkowiak was promoted to district court.

Now President Walkowiak promptly suspended Judge Rutkiewicz for dismissing the case against the prosecutor overseeing the Amber Gold investigation.

Judge Rutkiewicz dismissed it because he found that the illegal Disciplinary Chamber had not effectively waived the prosecutor’s immunity. So there is no consent to prosecute her. The judge’s suspension is a blatant and premeditated violation of the CJEU’s July 14, 2021 interim order.

Judge Rutkiewicz is the sixth judge suspended in recent weeks, in defiance of the 14 July 2021 CJEU safeguard.

Judges are organizing a picket in support of Judge Maciej Rutkiewicz on Wednesday, November 10, at 3 p.m. in front of the Elbląg District Court.

There are also further rulings in which judges apply EU law.

On Tuesday, November 9, Judge Adam Synakiewicz of the District Court in Częstochowa, sitting as a single judge, overturned a verdict issued by a neo-judge of the District Court in Zawiercie. Judge Synakiewicz applied the latest ECHR judgment of November 8, 2021 (Dolińska and Ozimek v. Poland), which once again questioned the legality of the new NCJ and the legality of the PiS-appointed Chamber of Extraordinary Control and Public Affairs.

The text has been adapted from an article by Mariusz Jałoszewski published in Polish at OKO.press.