“I fully subscribe to the conclusion of the urgent opinion of the Venice Commission of 16 January 2020, that these amendments diminish judicial independence,” writes the President of the Group of States Against Corruption (GRECO) at the Council of Europe. Marin Mrčela appeals for revision of the “muzzle law.”

“Justice under pressure – repressions as a means of attempting to take control over the judiciary and the prosecution in Poland in 2015-2019” report was prepared by the Association of Polish Judges “Iustitia” and association of prosecutors “Lex Super Omnia”

The National Prosecution Office has applied for the waiver of Judge Igor Tuleya’s immunity because he ordered an investigation into the Law and Justice vote in the Sejm’s Column Hall. Tuleya will be the first judge to whom the muzzle act will be applied. Because the illegal Disciplinary Chamber will make a decision as to his immunity.

“Thou shalt not be indifferent. The ghost of an authoritarian state stands at the door of your home. It will not knock on the door. It will come in uninvited. And it will stay a long time.” – reminds professor Mirosław Wyrzykowski, former judge of the Constitutional Tribunal of Poland and an outstanding legal authority

“Can a judge support his own candidacy for the National Council of the Judiciary, as Nawacki did? I don’t think so. After all, a candidate is on such a list because he agreed to run. So he is to perform two roles (active and passive) simultaneously? And defects concerning one candidate makes the whole list null and void,” says Ewa Łętowska

When I meet with people from all over Poland, I can see no severe opposition against damaging the judiciary system. The area is a complex one, and judges are a kind of “elite” with which not many people identify. Moreover, why all this alarm? After all, nothing is really happening. These are the common opinions. My role is thus to explain that the truth is completely different. That what is happening is a crime against the judiciary system, and that sooner or later its effects will be experienced by everyone. So I have to educate people on how to prevent those processes, wrote Commissioner for Human Rights Adam Bodnar for Magazyn TVN24.

The “Muzzle Act” takes effect 14 February. Public opinion is focused on the Disciplinary Chamber, but it is the Extraordinary Control and Public Affairs Chamber that will serve to smother oversight of judges recommended by the new National Council of the Judiciary. This chamber will accept all relevant motions and simply leave them unexamined. In addition, any resolutions it passes will be binding on the entire Supreme Court.

Twenty-two former members of the Constitutional Tribunal, including eight retired presidents and vice-presidents, say the court has ceased to perform its constitutional tasks and duties. They note the pending spurious dispute on the Supreme Court resolution, and particularly the participation of two former MPs in the bench, that compromise the court’s independence.

Court of Justice holds that domestic courts are to review the independence of the new National Council of the Judiciary and the Disciplinary Chamber

The Disciplinary Chamber of the Supreme Court has suspended Paweł Juszczyszyn indefinitely for his attempt to review the legality of the new National Council of the Judiciary and the status of a judge that body appointed. The Disciplinary Chamber ruled that he had no right to do so. The judge’s defenders announced that he would show up for work because the Disciplinary Chamber’s decisions are illegal.