Magdalena Niemiec from Katowice may become the first judge in Poland to file a precedent-setting lawsuit against the current government. She demands a swift resolution to the illegal neo-National Council of the Judiciary (neo-KRS) issue and the restitution of judges’ salaries, which were reduced for two years by the Law and Justice (PiS) government.

Not only Poland, but several other EU countries also fail to fully implement rulings from the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) and the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU). This issue extends beyond judicial independence.

Prosecutor General Adam Bodnar has today submitted a request to the President of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe to lift Marcin Romanowski’s immunity.

Donald Tusk has recently had to explain a mistake involving his countersignature on President Duda’s decision regarding the Civil Chamber of the Supreme Court. However, our information indicates that in the case of the Labor Chamber of the Supreme Court, the President may propose a legally appointed Supreme Court judge to Tusk for countersignature.

“For me, it is obvious—the National Electoral Commission’s resolution will be overturned. Can a body whose decisions can be predicted under such circumstances be considered an independent court?” said a judge from the Supreme Court’s Criminal Chamber in an interview with Onet.

Donald Tusk has countersigned President Duda’s decree appointing a neo-judge as the chairperson of the Assembly of Judges of the Civil Chamber of the Supreme Court, which is tasked with electing a new Chief Justice of the Chamber. “Supreme Court judges are devastated and stunned. They feel betrayed,” comments Krystian Markiewicz, President of Iustitia.

Minister Bodnar is retracting from cases that were highly publicized during the PiS administration. These cases involve the deliberate defamation of Judge Beata Morawiec by Ziobro’s ministry and the attack on Judge Waldemar Żurek.

Investigators believe that the District Court for Warsaw-Mokotów made an error in releasing from custody the former Deputy Minister, who is being charged by the prosecutor’s office in connection with his oversight of the Justice Fund.

On 13 March 2024, a few days after completing his term as President of the ICC, I conducted the following interview with Judge Piotr Hofmański.  It was a wide-ranging conversation which has been edited and condensed for publication.

The Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe has never dealt with such serious and well-documented allegations against one of its members. The regulations did not account for this. But now, due to the abuses that occurred during the PiS government’s tenure in the Polish Ministry of Justice, these regulations will be clarified,” says Dr. Hanna Machińska.