On 12 October, the rule of law in Poland was discussed in Warsaw, Brussels, Strasbourg, and Luxembourg. Prof. John Morijn reports from the Court of Justice of the EU and analyses arguments made before the Grand Chamber in the PPU cases. The Advocate General will issue his Opinion on 12 November.

‘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

The management board of the Lex Super Omnia (LSO) association of prosecutors may be held liable on criminal charges for reporting the suspected abuse of authority by Minister of Justice Zbigniew Ziobro. Proceedings are pending in this matter.

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 only way to contain the increasing lawlessness that we are witnessing in Poland is for your Commission to step up to the task it is given under the Treaties to enforce EU law. Do not further delay action in the name of dialogue. One simply cannot engage in dialogue with a pyromaniac who is actively adding fuel to a blaze. The rule of law in Poland is not merely being attacked. It is being destroyed in plain sight. ‘ – writes a dozen of law professors from across the globe to the European Commission President

In refusing extradition from Poland to the Netherlands, Judge Łubowski ruthlessly attacked the Dutch courts and government, including for obstructing the fight against international crime and the destruction of the community of EU law. He mentioned the threat of ‘horrific euthanasia’ and a ‘pathological narcotics policy’

The National Council of the Judiciary gave the member of this group another chance of promotion. The Olsztyn-based Judge Maciej Nawacki may soon become a regional court judge. Whereas the Council itself will have an increasingly lesser representation of the district courts.

‘Judge Morawiec does not even have the status of a suspect, yet she is visited at dawn. We want to express our solidarity with Beata Morawiec, judge of the District Court in Kraków, who was not afraid to stand up to Minister Zbigniew Ziobro’ – says Jakub Kościerzyński, judge of the District Court in Bydgoszcz.