An Important and Precedent-Setting Decision

The new director of the National School of Judiciary and Public Prosecution, Prof. Piotr Girdwoyń (pictured above), made an important and precedent-setting decision.

This decision clearly indicates that the school, which operates under the Ministry of Justice, will educate future judges and prosecutors on values, ethical conduct, and respect for European law.

The new school leadership aims to lead by example. By excluding from the teaching staff those judges who are considered neo-judges and those who signed lists supporting candidates for the neo-National Council of the Judiciary (neo-KRS), the leadership is implementing the judgments of the European Court of Human Rights, the Court of Justice of the European Union, as well as Poland’s Supreme Court, Supreme Administrative Court, and common courts. These judgments have established that the neo-KRS is unconstitutional and not independent of political influence.

The issue lies in the fact that 15 judge members of the council were elected by politicians—specifically, PiS MPs in the Sejm—and the council primarily consists of judges who have cooperated with the Ministry of Justice under Zbigniew Ziobro and have benefited from his judicial reforms. Such an entity does not guarantee that judges promoted by it will be independent. Judges nominated by the neo-KRS are therefore deemed flawed, hence the term neo-judges.

Under PiS rule, neo-judges and judges supporting Ziobro’s reforms have led and taught at the National School of Judiciary and Public Prosecution. Among them was Jakub Iwaniec, a Warsaw judge whom the prosecution now seeks to indict for involvement in a smear campaign. Also on delegation was neo-judge and neo-KRS member Dariusz Drajewicz.

Additionally, the school’s deputy director was neo-judge Robert Pelewicz, who collaborated with the SB during the Communist era and who, under PiS rule, was promoted and eagerly endorsed candidates for the neo-KRS.

Under PiS rule, the directors of the National School of Judiciary and Public Prosecution included neo-Supreme Court judges—Małgorzata Manowska, followed by Dariusz Pawłyszcze (the partner of the chairperson of the illegal neo-KRS, Dagmara Pawełczyk-Woicka), and after him, neo-Supreme Court judge Kamil Zaradkiewicz (who resigned after a few weeks). Manowska still holds the status of a school lecturer.

The list of lecturers also included other neo-Supreme Court judges—Zaradkiewicz, Tomasz Demendecki, Joanna Lemańska (president of the illegal Chamber of Extraordinary Control and Public Affairs of the Supreme Court), Zbigniew Kapiński (president of the Criminal Chamber of the Supreme Court). Lecturers also included neo-judges from common courts, such as Zygmunt Drożdżejko, former president of the Krakow Court of Appeal, who was dismissed by Justice Minister Adam Bodnar.

This is now changing. The new leadership of the National School of Judiciary and Public Prosecution wants future judges and prosecutors to be taught by individuals with not only recognized professional achievements but also unquestionable authority and proven ethical and moral standards.

The school will teach the rule of law.

On July 12, 2024, the school’s director, Prof. Piotr Girdwoyń, issued guidelines regarding who may teach at the National School of Judiciary and Public Prosecution. A statement on this matter was published.

It reads: “In accordance with the content of the Director’s Order No. 375/2019 of July 31, 2019, regarding the appointment of lecturers and the organization of training sessions and exams at the National School of Judiciary and Public Prosecution, persons appointed to conduct training sessions must guarantee a high substantive level of classes.

We express a deep conviction that the staff of the National School of Judiciary and Public Prosecution should consist of individuals who not only have the highest professional and didactic qualifications but also those whose professional status and ethical and moral conduct cannot be questioned or challenged in any way.”

The statement emphasizes: “The National School of Judiciary and Public Prosecution should be a place where trainees, in addition to acquiring substantive knowledge, learn professional ethics and respect for the rule of law, while also shaping their professional attitude.

The management of the National School of Judiciary and Public Prosecution also reminds that obtaining the status of a lecturer at the school does not equate to an obligation to conduct classes, and the school authorities have the discretion to utilize the list of lecturers, which as of early July 2024 includes over 1,200 individuals.”

The statement further lists the new criteria for selecting lecturers at the National School of Judiciary and Public Prosecution: “In making decisions about assigning specific individuals to conduct classes, the school management considers the following criteria in particular:

1. Ensuring a high substantive level of the classes and the engagement of lecturers in performing related functions.

2. Prohibiting the involvement of lecturers in anti-rule of law activities; consequently, the school management will refrain from assigning classes to individuals who:

a. Were appointed to the office of judge at the request of the National Council of the Judiciary [neo-KRS—ed.] formed under the provisions of the Act of December 8, 2017, amending the Act on the National Council of the Judiciary and certain other acts (Journal of Laws of 2018, item 3), with the exception of graduates of the National School of Judiciary and Public Prosecution assuming their first assessorial and judicial positions;

b. By signing lists supporting candidates for the National Council of the Judiciary formed under the provisions of the Act of December 8, 2017, amending the Act on the National Council of the Judiciary and certain other acts (Journal of Laws of 2018, item 3), which is not identical to the constitutional body whose composition and method of selection is regulated by the Constitution of the Republic of Poland, particularly in Article 187, paragraph 1, contributed to the destruction of the justice system and the rule of law crisis;

3. Ensuring the diversity of the lecturer panel by allowing individuals with high substantive and moral qualifications who have been unjustly overlooked in recent years to conduct classes.”

This last criterion means that future judges and prosecutors will now also be taught by judges and professors who, in recent years, defended the rule of law and criticized Ziobro’s reforms. Under PiS rule, for their stance and adherence to the Constitution, they were excluded from the group of lecturers.

The above text by Mariusz Jałoszewski was published in OKO.press on July 14, 2024

https://oko.press/neo-sedziowie-nie-beda-uczyc-w-kssip