‘This can be an instrument for initiating operational control, namely wiretapping, for conducting criminal proceedings and therefore for intimidation,’ Counsellor Marcin Wolny of the Helsinki Foundation for Human Rights tells Onet about the provision regarding disinformation in the PiS deputies’ so-called Spy Act, which has already been passed.

MPs from the ruling coalition have enacted a special provision intended to remove one judge from the profession. This applies to the former deputy head of the legal NCJ, Piotr Raczkowski. The community of judges announces his defence, because the provision is in breach of the Constitution and European law

Jarosław Kaczyński announced that he is concerned about the opposition falsifying the elections. The problem is that election systems in Poland leave a great deal to be desired; they are conducive to abuse, while parties do not have equal chances in elections.

Examples of specific proceedings and decisions show what Zbigniew Ziobro and Jarosław Kaczyński stand to gain from staffing the courts with ‘their own people’.

While wondering whether the change in the regulations is good, it would be worth asking yourself who will benefit from it. Local governments, residents and nature will lose out on the change in the Assessment Act, while the government and the investors it selects will gain on the basis of criteria known only to the politicians. Good change?

‘We cannot remain silent in the light of such an intensity of ill will and such a gross violation of fundamental human and civil rights. It is also our duty, which arises from our judicial conscience and our knowledge of the law, to point out that cooperation with the commission according to the principles of this unprecedented act constitutes a violation of values that are dear to our traditions and respect for the common good,’ wrote the retired judges of the Constitutional Tribunal.

The commission investigating Russian influence, seen as a tool against Donald Tusk and the ‘enemies’ of PiS, could result in the blocking of EU funds for Poland.

The system of repression of judges defending the rule of law has been changing over the years. What measures are used today to intimidate defenders of the rule of law? Osiatyński Archive’s special analysis

The president of the Court of Appeal in Warsaw, Piotr Schab, does not respect the law, while there is interference in final judgments to the benefit of the prosecutor’s office in the court he manages – as arises from the declaration of 43 judges of that court.

The neo-NCJ has started to choose more neo-judges for the Supreme Court. It could nominate as many as 12. The candidates are judges who were already promoted under the current government as well as an assistant to Elzbieta Karska, the wife of PiS MEP Karol Karski. Voting will be held on 18 May.